
UNITED STATES OF AMJERICA, 



WINTER JAUNT 



THROUGH 



HISTORIC LANDS. 



EMBRACING 



SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, BELGIUM, FRANCE, SWITZ- 
ERLAND, ITALY, GREECE, EGYPT, AND 
THE HOLY LAND, 



TOGETHER WITH 



PERSONAL INCIDENTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 



BY ^ 

REV. MILTON H: STINE, A. M., 

TV 
AUTHOR OF LETTERS ON HOLY LAND AND " STUDIES ON THE RELIGIOUS 
PROBLEM OF OUR COUNTRY." 

,*\ 

fAM 19 :nn 



PHIIvADEIvPHIA, PA.: 

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
1890. 




LIBRARY 

CONGRESS 

IWASHINGTON 



Copyright, 1890. 

BY 

MILTON H. STINE. 



TO MY WIFE, 

WHO TEN YEARS AGO JOINED ME ON THE WAY TO THE 
"BETTER I.AND," 

AND WHO HAS BEEN MY I^OVING AND FAITHFUI^ 
'•COMPANION" EVER SINCE, 

THIS VOIvUME IS MOST AEEECTIONATEI.Y 

DEDICATED. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Monument of John Knox 41 

Westminster Abbey 48 

Tower of London 52 

Scenery on Lake Luzerne 63 

MiivAN Cathedrai, 91 

FivORENCE 97 

St. Peter's Cathedrai, 121 

Cairo 141 

Sphinx and Pyramids . 159 

jERUSAIvEM, FROM Ol^IVET 208 

The Dead Sea 261 

The Jordan 264 

Bethi^Ehem , . 276 

Abraham's Oak 281 

Damascus 285 

ATHENS • • 293 

(iv) 



INTRODUCTION. 



''Another book on travel! Is it possible to 
say anything that has not been said many times in 
the countless books on this subject?" My answer 
is, Read and see for yourself. Scientists say, no 
two persons see the same object precisely the same: 
way. So too, no two persons say the same of what 
they have seen and heard. For this reason there: 
is always something- new in books on travel. 

The chapters in this little volume all describe 
old places; but what they contain will be new so 
long as people study history or love to travel. 
Whilst they may not teach much that is new, they 
may beguile tedious hours and create a desire to 
learn more of the persons, place and times of 
which they speak. 

I did not travel as an explorer, a specialist, or a 
scientist. I traveled to see, to learn as much as 
possible of the places renowned and sites made 
sacred by hallowed associations. The book, how- 
ever, contains the account of the most recent dis- 
coveries in the historic lands of which it speaks. 
As it is ever true that ''Books are made from 

(v) 



Vi INTRODUCTION. 

books," I wish to add that I have read ** Bur- 
ied Cities Recovered," "Journeyings in the Old 
World," ^'A New Path Across an Old Field," etc. 
These, together with my notes during my jaunt, 
have aided me in preparing this volume. It will 
be seen that a number of pages were contributed 
by my friends and fellow-travelers, Rev. Prof. C. 
B. McAfee, of Park College, Mo., and Dr. Harvey 
M. Kirk, of Columbus, O. These honored friends 
will hereby accept my thanks for their valued con- 
tributions. Hoping that this volume may be as 
kindly received as the one from my pen two years 
ago, I herewith send it on its mission, trusting 
that many may open it with expectation and close 
it with profit. 

THE AUTHOR. 
Lebanon y Pa., December, i8go. 



CONTENTS. 



PART FIRST. 
EUROPE. 

CHAPTER I. PAGE 

Desire to travel— Preparation— Good-by— Steamer— Cargo— Company 
—Miss Dunn— A Storm— Entertainment on Board— Sight of I^and 
—Bill of Fare 11-20 

CHAPTER II. 
Coming up the Scheldt— Irrigation— Quays— Antwerp— Walk in City 
—Hotel— Milk Carts— St. Jacques and Rubens— Wood-carving— 
Cathedral— St. Andrew's— St. Paul's— Charles V.— Brussels— Old 
and New— St. Guide— Hotel de Ville— Alva and Egmont— Museum 
— Belgium, size of ... 21-30 

CHAPTER III. 

Glasgow— Third City in U. Kingdom— The Clyde— Description of City 
—University— Cathedral— Water supply— Edinburgh— In Scotch 
history— University— Persecution— " Bluidy Mackenzie"— Castle- 
Chapel of Margaret— Mons Meg— Palace— Crown-room-Cathedral 
—John Knox— Streets in New Town— Scott Monument— Sight by 

Night 31-43 

CHAPTER IV. 

London, on Road to— Sabbatic quiet— Spurgeon's— St. Paul's— West- 
minster Abbey— Parliament Buildings— The Tower— British Mu- 
seum—Bank of England— Drive— St. James' Palace, etc.— Albert 
Memorial— Bridges— Concluding remarks 44-6i 

CHAPTER V. 
J?rom Brussels to Luzerne— The country and houses— Luzerne— Lake- 
Bridges— Cathedral— The Lion— Rigi and Pilatus— Luzerne to Mi- 
lan—Grand sceneries— St. Gothard— Into Italy— Change of Scen- 
ery ^^-^8 

(vii) 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

- . PAGE 

CHAPTER VI. 

Paris— Situation and size— Boulevards— Catacombs— Bois de Boulogne 
Madeleine— lyouvre— Palais Royal— Hotel des Invalides— Tomb of 
Napoleon— Cathedral-I^a St. Chapelle— Pantheon— St. Jacques— 
Bourse— Place de la Concorde— Versailles— lyocation — Royal palace 
— Rooms of Marie Antoinette — Mirror — Museum — Paintings — 
Gardens— I^yons— Manufactories— Cathedral— Marseilles— Quays»~ 
Streets— Cathedral— Rain and the President 69-90^ 

CHAPTER VII. 
Milan— Age— Cathedral— Spire— Nail of "True Cross"— Tomb of Bor- 
romeo— St. Ambrose— The " Brazen Serpent"—" The I^ast Supper 
by Da Vinci "—Other buildings— Florence— Scenery— Pitti Palace 
and Vecchio—Duomo— Campanile— Santa Croce— Amerigo Ves- 
pucci 9i_iox 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Rome— Scenery on way to— The Corso— Peasants going to town— Pop- 
ulation and Ruins— The Forum— Arch of Titus— Mamertine Prison 
—Paul in Rome— Capitoline Hill— Tarpeia— Nero's palace and 
gardens — Baths— Fountains— Colosseum— Anecdote— Pantheon— 
Catacombs— Churches— St. Angelo 102-121 

CHAPTER IX. 
Naples— I^ocation— Relics of Antiquity— Churches— The People— Mac- 
aroni— Funeral— Pompeii— How to get there— History— Pavement 
—Ruins and Population— Bodies found— Advancement in arts- 
Cafe of Diomede— On board the "Ortigia "—Sicily— Buildings, etc. 
—Sailing on the Mediterranean— In Africa .122-131 



PART SECOND. 



AFRICA AND ASIA. 

CHAPTER X. 
Alexandria— "Pharos"— Pilot-boats— Crowd— "Hotel Abbat"— His- 
tory of City— "Pompey's Pillar "—Ubraries— Christianity— Drive- 
Home of Antoniades— Square— Population— Merchants— Moham- 
medan Women— Donkeys— Scenes on the way to Cairo 132-140 

CHAPTER XI. 
Cairo— A donkey ride— Mosques— Slippers— Alabaster Mosque-Cita- 
del— View— Mamelukes— " Well of Joseph "—University— " Danc- 
ing Dervishes "—Bazaars— Hotels— The street scenes— Backsheesh 
—Blindness and flies— Missions— The Copts 141-152 



CONTENTS. ix 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XII. 

Boulak Museum— Arab Market— Old Statue— Raphsapha — Jewelry 
—Mummies of the Pharaohs— Value of these discoveries— Road to 
the P5^ramids— Arabs and recommendations— Sphinx— Size — As- 
cent of Cheops— Scenery— Dimensions— Chamber in the Pyramid 
— Who built Cheops— Memphis — Nilometer — Antiquity of Mem- 
phis—Arab village and Arab farming— Statutes of Rameses II.— 
Necropolis of Egypt— Mummies of First-born— Oldest monuments 
— Serapeum— Tomb of Tih — Frescoes— Way home 153-170 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Heliopolis — Temple— Phoenix — School of Philosophy— Obelisks- 
Spring-" Virgin's Tree"— Garden of Cleopatra— Ruins at I,uxor, 
etc.— Addenda by Dr. Kirk— Ride up the Nile— The Nile— Asyoot 
—Blindness and flies— Water lifts— Abydos— Columns— I^uxor— 
Thebes— Karnak— Avenue of Sphinxes— Halls— Nautch dance- 
Tombs of the Pharaohs — View — Traveling on Nile— Ride through 
the desert— Suez Canal— Port Said— Reflections 171-196 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Joppa— Our Arrival— Rolla Floyd— " House by the seaside "—Arme- 
nian Convent— The school of Miss Arnot— Orange Groves— I,uth- 
eran Colony— Tropical garden— On the Road to Jerusalem— Who 
went this road— Flowers— Farming— Going to market— Ramleh — 
Tower— Funeral— Dinner— View from the mountains— Abou Gosch 
— Ain Karin— First view of Jerusalem 197-207 

CHAPTER XV. 

In the Holy City— First view— Temple plateau— Mosque of Omar— Sa- 
cred rock, etc.— Elaksa-'- Solomon's stables"— Via Dolorosa— 
Convent and Orphanage— Hospice of the Knights of St. John- 
Church of Holy Sepulchre— Anointing slab— Where Mary stood— 
Sepulchre— Place of the Crosses, etc.— House of Caiaphas— Where 
the "cock crew"— Supper room— Tomb of David— Church of St. 
Anne— Bethesda— General description of city 208-225 

CHAPTER XVI. 

A walk about Zion— View from Olivet— Mosque of the Ascension— 
"Czar's Church "—Gethsemane— Virgin's Tomb— The Kedron— 
Absalom's Pillar— Other tombs — Enrogel— Pools of Gihon— Quar- 
ries of Solomon— Golgotha— Church of St. Stephen— Tomb of the 
Kings— Tomb of the Judges— King's Wine-presses— I,and of Won- 
ders 226-237 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
Fulfillment of Prophecy — Spirit of improvement in the city — Indus- 
trial school— Jeremiah xxxii. 38-40— The New Jerusalem— Zech. 
xiv. lo— Characteristics of the new town— Conversion of the Jews. 238-246 

CHAPTE;r XVIII. 
I,epers— "Where seen— Cries— Story of ^. Daughan — Ancient mode of 
teaching lepers— Modern I^eper Home — Aim of Fritz Miller— Cause 
Contagion . , 246-253 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Road to Jericho— Bethany — House of Simon, the leper — Tomb of lyaz- 
arus— Arab guide— Road, dangers of— View — Arab road-makers — 
"Apostles' Fountain" — launch — Dangers — View — Monastery — 
Brook Cherith — Modern Jericho— Jericho of Herod — Kahn— Ride 
to Dead Sea— On its shores— Driftwood— I^ife— Cities of the Plain 
— The ride to the Jordan— The River— Pilgrims— Bathing— The re- 
turn ride— Gilgal — Ancient Jericho— Ruins— Mount of Temptation 
— Monasteries— Reflections 254-270 

CHAPTER XX. 
Hebron— Road and associations— Field of Boaz— Episode— Bethlehem 
— Church of the Nativity— St. Jerome — Plain of the Shepherds— 
"Well of David" — Memories — The people and indu.stries — Tomb of 
Rachel — Giloh — "Pools of Solomon " — Aqueduct — Gardens — Cave 
of Adullam — Amos — Resting place — "Oak of Abraham" — View— 
Hebron— Age— Cave of Machpelah— Return to Jerusalem . . . .271-284 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Damascus — Description— History— Paul in Damascus— Bazaars— Rugs 
— Silks — Blades — Great Mosque — John of Damascus, tomb of— 
Saladin, tomb of— Private houses— Christian Missions 284-292 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Athens— Drive to the city— A soldier — lyanguage- Goods and prices — 
Museums— The Acropolis— The Odeon— Temple of Theseus— Of 
Jupiter— The Citadel-gates— The Parthenon—" Unwinged Vic- 
tory"— Mars Hill 293-304 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Desire to Travel — Preparation— Good-by — Steamer — Cargo — 
Company— Miss Dunn— A Storm— Entertainments on Board 
—Sight of Land— Bill of Fare. 

I NKVKR knew the time that! did not have a 
desire to travel. In my school and college days I 
made many pledges to go with certain of my 
school-mates to the Old World. The time for 
carrying out the plans of my childhood and early 
manhood came at last. 

At the request of a friend, Dr. C. F. Thomas of 
Philadelphia sent me an itinerary of a tour through 
Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land. After con- 
sulting with my wife and church council on the 
feasibility of my leaving home and work for three 
months, and carrying the matter to the Lord in 
prayer, I decided to go. 

This was three months before the time set tor 
my departure. It gave me ample time to read and 

(II) 



12 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. 

re-read the itinerary, and to acquaint myself with 
many of the places I was about to visit. In mak- 
ing a journey of twelve thousand miles, many 
things must be attended to. The time was not too 
long, and soon the day set for my departure was 
painfully nigh. Had I known that it would cause 
those who have brought so much sunshine to my 
home so many anxious hours, I might have aban- 
doned my purpose. The arrangements were now 
made, and it was inconvenient for many reasons to 
withdraw. I said most of my good-byes from a 
distance, and made as little of my departure as 
possible. 

We left Jersey City at ii a. m. February 12th. 
It was a delightful morning, and we had soon 
passed the Statue of lyiberty, the Forks, and Sandy 
Hook, and were out at sea. We sailed on the 
Noordland^ of the Red Star line. This was her 
fifty-second voyage. Though the Noordland is 
not one of the very largest trans-Atlantic steamers, 
she is a very fine boat. She is a good strong ship, 
415 feet in length. The depth of her hold is 37^ 
feet, and her breadth is 47 feet. Her crew num- 
bers no men. It costs $750 per day to pay her 
crew and provide all things necessary to run her. 
Unlike many of the large boats, she does not de- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 3 

pend wholly on steam to run her. She has four 
masts, each 128 feet high. On this trip her cargo 
consisted of 60,000 bushels of wheat. She is cap- 
able of carrying 100,000 bushels. Th.& Noordland^ 
though so large and comfortable, is by no means 
the queen of ocean steamers. Shortly after the 
accident to the City of Paris ^ an article in the New 
York Sun gave some interesting facts concerning 
this great ship, a few of which we subjoin, believ- 
ing them of interest to those who may read this 
book. * 

*In the busy season the City of Paris carries about 550 first 
cabin, 250 second cabin, and 650 steerage passengers. There 
are 400 in the ship's company, including doctors, printers, 
boiler-makers, 6 bakers, 3 butchers, 17 cooks, hydraulic, elec- 
trical and other engineers to the number of 32, 148 stewards 
and 8 stewardesses. So there may be about 1,850 aboard. 

Notwithstanding the fact that many of the passengers are 
sea-sick from the time they pass Sandy Hook until Fastnet is 
sighted, they manage to consume in one trip something like 
13,000 pounds of fresh beef, 3,000 pounds of corned beef, 4,000 
pounds of mutton, 1,000 pounds of lamb, 2,000 pounds of veal 
and pork, 15,000 pounds of bacon, 500 pounds of liver, tripe and 
sausages, 200 hams, 300 pounds of fish, 20,000 eggs, 17 tons of 
potatoes, 3 tons of other vegetables, 3,600 pounds of butter, 600 
pounds of cheese, 600 pounds of coffee, 350 pounds of tea, 100 
pounds of icing sugar, 150 pounds of powdered sugar, 670 
pounds of loaf sugar, 3,000 pounds of moist sugar, 700 pounds 



14 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 

Our company consisted of fifteen ministers of 
the Gospel, belonging to six different denomina- 
tions, twelve laymen, among whom were lawyers, 
doctors and merchants, and fourteen ladies. One 
of the ladies. Miss Dunn of Pittsburg, was on her 
way to Jerusalem as a missionary. The career of 
Miss Dunn is somewhat remarkable, hence a w^ord 
with regard to her may be of interest. 

My attention was called to this lady at Jersey 

of salt, 200 pounds of nuts, 560 pounds of dried fruit, 20 barrels 
of apples, 3,600 lemons, 20 cases of oranges — and other green 
fruit in season — 300 bottles of pickles, 150 bottleg of ketchup, 
sauce, and horse radish, and 150 cans of preserves. 

There are also quantities of poultry, oysters, sardines, canned 
vegetables, and soups, vinegar, pepper, mustard, curry, rice, 
tapioca, sago, hominy, oatmeal, molasses, condensed milk, 
"tinned" Boston beans, confectionery and ice cream. Fifty 
pounds of ice cream are served at a single meal in the first 
cabin. 

Thirty tons of ice are required to keep the great storerooms 
cool. Bight barrels of flour are used daily. The bakers are 
busy from dawn of day. They make 4,000 delicious Parker 
House rolls for breakfast every morning. Thirty eight-pound 
loaves of white bread and one hundred pounds of brown bread 
are baked each day ; also, pies, puddings, cakes, etc. 

Bight barrels of common crackers and a hundred tins of 
fancy crackers are stowed away in the storeroom, together with 
100 pounds of wine and plum cake, not a crumb of which is 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 1 5 

City, about an hour before the boat left her pier. 
On hearing the voice of song on the starboard, my 
wife and a friend, together with others, went over 
to hear the music, and to see the persons who 
sang. We found a company of men and women 
engaged in a solemn and impressive farewell to 
their sister in Christ. On the second day out, I 
obtained an introduction to her, when she gave me 
the following account of her life: 

left when Iviverpool is reached. Six thousand bottles of ale 
and porter, 4,200 bottles of mineral waters, 4,500 bottles of wine, 
and more or less ardent spirits, are drunk inside of six days by 
the guests of this huge floating hotel. About 3,000 cigars are 
sold [on board, but many more are smoked. Two hundred 
pounds of toilet soap are supplied by the steamship company. 

One of the odd sights to be seen on the double-decked Inman 
pier soon after the arrival of the "queen of the ocean grey- 
hounds " is the great stacks of soiled linen which are being 
assorted by about a dozen stewards. Here is the wash-list for 
a single trip: Napkins, 8,300; tablecloths, 180; sheets, 3,600; 
pillow-cases, 4,400; towels, 16,200, and dozens of blankets and 
counterpanes. Although the list is very short, it requires four 
large two-horse trucks to carry the wash to the Inman Com- 
pany's steam laundry in Jersey City. In less than a week it is 
back in the lockers of the linen rooms, which are in charge of 
a regular linen-keeper. There is no washing done aboard. 
Many of the ship's company have their washing done in New 
York, but the greater number have it done in Iviverpool. 



1 6 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

She was born in Pittsburg, Pa., was educated 
and became a teacher. On her conversion she re- 
solved to become a missionary; but on being ex- 
amined by the physician, it was found that her 
lungs were badly diseased. She became worse, 
and her life was despaired of. She herself now 
confided her health to the Lord. She was fully 
resolved to live or die, as the Master should see 
fit. She had no sooner done this than she 'resolved 
to rise from her bed. In a month from this time 
she went to her parents' home, where she steadily 
gained in health. ^ 

Christ seemed more precious to her now than 
ever before, and she once more consecrated herself 
to the service of Foreign Missions. But she was 
without means and without friends. The Lord, 
however, opened the way for her, and she went to 
a training school in New York City. She worked 
hard, and at the end of the first year stood first in 
the class, winning all the prizes. A position was 
offered her during her summer vacation in the 
Berachah Orphanage in New York City, an insti- 
tution which supports 200 orphans. This home 
has no endowment, but like the homes founded by 
George Miiller, depends upon voluntary contribu- 
tions, which always come in answer to prayer. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 1 7 

When her vacation was over, she was offered a 
permanent position in the Home. She was anx- 
ious to return to school, but her funds were ex- 
hausted, so she asked time for consideration. A 
few days afterwards she received a letter from an 
acquaintance who did not believe in foreign mis- 
sions; but he said he felt it a duty to support her 
one year in school. The offer was accepted, and 
at the end of the year Miss Dunn graduated. She 
now became the matron in the Berachah Orphan- 
age, where she remained one year. During the 
year she resolved to go to Jerusalem to work 
among the Jews. This resolution she is now in 
the act of carrying into effect. She goes inde- 
pendent of any Society, relying wholly upon the 
Lord for support. She did not know until within 
a few weeks, where she might find a home in Pal- 
estine. Some one who is interested in the work 
at Bethany, on hearing of Miss Dunn's purpose, 
offered her a home in this historical village until 
the Lord directs her farther. 

The first three days of our voyage were beautiful 
and warm as May. The ocean was "calm as a 
cradled child in dreamless slumber bound." Fri- 
day was the loveliest St. Valentine any of us 
ever saw, but as the morning mail did not arrive, 



l8 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

we received no valentines. Saturday the wind 
was from the south, and sailing was not so pleasant 
as it had been. Sunday it was still worse. The 
weather became more unpleasant until February 
i8, when the wind blew a gale from the northwest. 
The heaviest storm the Noordland had experi- 
enced in this winter of storms was now upon us. 
"How the giant element leaped with delirious 
bound!" 

The sea and sky seemed to sweep in one awful 
mass toward the boat. The rain and hail fell in 
torrents. The waves seemed to mount high above 
the vessel, and then of a sudden they would raise 
her in their mighty arms and toss her as you would 
a child. Again they would dash upon the main 
deck, having swept the port-holes with a roar and 
a frightful whirl. They deluged the main deck, 
and dashed the spray into the face of the watch 
on the bridges. The mighty ship groaned as she 
now tunneled or mounted the billows. The storm 
roared and the top yard broke from its fasten- 
ings. This caused the sail to fly to and fro with 
the noise of thunder. A dozen sailors in the rain 
and storm climbed with the agility of cats up the 
rope-ladders, and with herculean effort succeeded 
in furling the sail. In the ship men and women 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HiSTOkiC LANDS. 1§ 

staggered to and fro. They could not sit unless 
they held on with might and main. When they 
lay down they rolled to and fro like balls. At the 
table at dinner all was in commotion. The few 
who were well enough to eat emptied soup-dishes 
into their laps. Water-bottles slipped hither and 
thither, knives and forks jingled, and nothing re- 
mained where you put it. But the storm was soom 
over. For the last four days of our eleven days^" 
voyage the sea was again comparatively calm.- 
On the morning of the tenth day we sighted Point: 
Lizard, All of us were glad to see the land, tot it 
was thirty-six hours before we put our fett on 
shore at Antwerp. 

Notwithstanding the storm and sea-sickness we 
did not have the dreary time on board one might 
suppose. We had an almost constant flow of wit 
and wisdom. Every evening we had an enter- 
tainment. Some of the passengers who had been 
abroad before read accounts of their trips, others, 
gave us select readings, instrumental and vocal 
music. Of course, we had a daily prayer-meeting 
whenever practicable. 

A sea- voyage, therefore, is not monotonous — al- 
though beyond seeing a sail now and then, and 
viewing the sun rise and set, there is nothing to 



20 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

attract attention. I saw the sun rise^ene morning 
before the storm. First^ there was a crescent of 
fire in the sea; this grew rapidly until it became a 
sphere, when it elongated into a balloon of fire 
with the basket hidden in the sea; then it became 
the full orb of day, as we have it on land. 

We have always had plenty so eat, but not a few 
were unable to come to the saloon for a great part 
of the voyage. I missed only one meal in the 
saloon. I subjoin the bill of fare for one dinner: 
"Mock turtle soup, bon din of bologna with 
crafiles, boiled salmon trout, Dutch sauce, braized 
brisket of beef flamande, fricassee of chicken, veal 
.cutlets with tomato sauce, roast leg of mutton, red 
currant jelly, spinach, larded sweetbreads, roast 
pigeon compote, plum pudding, brandy sauce, 
strawberry ice cream, fruits assorted, coffee." 



CHAPTER II. 

Coming up Scheldt — Irrigation — Quays — Antwerp — Walk in — 
Hotel — Milk Carts — St. Jacques and Rubens — Wood Carving 
—Cathedral— St. Andrews— St. Paul's— Charles V.— Brussels 
Old and New— St. Guide— Hotel de Ville— Alva and Egmont 
Museum — Belgium, Size, etc.^ 

In coming up the Scheldt one is impressed with 
the fact that he is sailing on a body of water that 
is really higher than the surrounding landscape. 
Immense dykes keep the sea from encroaching on 
the land. The country is irrigated by ditches 
which extend from the streams through well culti- 
vated fields. Such a thorough irrigation prevents 
the crops from suffering in a drought. As the ves- 
sel went up; the stream, girls in short skirts, big 
wooden shoes, and with their heads tied up in 
shawds, came out of low stone houses to look at us 
and welcome us by the waving of handkerchiefs. 

The magnificent quays along the shore are, to a 
large extent, the work of Napoleon I. Many of 
the fine docks were demolished in 1814; but two 
great basins were preserved. These have been 
converted into docks, and are now lined with ware- 

(21) 



22 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

houses. Antwerp itself is a very old city, having 
been founded in the seventh century. In the fif- 
teenth and sixteenth centuries it had attained the 
zenith of its prosperity. From this time to the 
close of the long wars with Spain and France and 
the Netherlands, the city declined in population 
and commerce. At present it is the principal sea- 
port of Belgium, if not of the continent. It has a 
population of 176,000. It was quite dark on the 
Sabbath of February 23d when we landed. After 
passing the Custom House officers, which was 
readily done^ we drove to the beautiful hotel St. 
Antoine. This hotel is built after the manner of 
most hotels in Europe and the East, in the shape 
of a square with an open centre. A marble pave- 
ment surrounds the court. This pavement is pro- 
tected from the weather by a glass casement The 
dining rooms are large and very pretty. There are 
open fire-places in the sleeping rooms, but the fires 
are extra. It was already late in the evening, after 
we had dinner, but a number of us took a walk. 
We walked both to see the town and to try the 
novelty of walking on shore after having been on 
the sea more than eleven days. It was Sunday 
evening, and the close of the Carnival. This may 
account for the fact that we passed several drunken 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 23 

men, a brass band and a company of masqueraders. 
We were so very tired that our walk was short. 

Early on Monday morning we were ready for 
sight-seeing. The first objects of interest were the 
milk carts and small wagons drawn by dogs fol- 
lowed by a peasant, a woman usually, with her 
great wooden shoes, short skirts and bare head. 
These women assist their dogs by pushing the cart 
from behind. The men generally take the more 
easy part by following the carts at some distance, 
leisurely smoking their pipes. One sees few wagons 
in Belgium. The hauling is done mostly with 
carts, to which a horse or dog is attached. The 
horses here, as in France and England, are large, 
fine brutes. 

There are a number of places of interest in 
Antwerp. We first visited the grave of Rubens, in 
the church of St. Jacques. Rubens, though a 
German by birth, spent much of his time in Ant- 
werp. Here are his earliest, and according to most 
critics, his masterpieces. The ' ' Descent from the 
Cross ' ' is the finest painting that ever came from 
his brush. This is in the cathedral in this city. 
Rubens was a hard worker. He painted, with the 
assistance of his students 1,800 pictures, an average 
of one per week throughout his entire career. He 



24 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

died in Antwerp, in Ma}^, 1640, in the sixty-third 
year of his age, the greatest master of the Flemish 
schooh The church of St. Jacques is old, and is 
famous only as the burial place of Rubens. It 
contains a window made of beautiful stained glass 
of the first half of the seventeenth century. It 
likewise has several grand altars. The Jesuits' 
chapel, not far from St. Jacques, is famous for its 
wood-carvings by Von Brunt. There is nothing 
in the world in this art which excels the rich 
wood-carvings in Antwerp and Brussels. St. 
Jacques belonged to the monastery which still 
stands close by. The building is Gothic, the 
arches resting on immense stone pillars. 

Of all churches in Antwerp the cathedral is the 
most famous, first, because it is the finest Gothic 
edifice in Europe, and secondly, because it contains 
the masterpieces of Rubens. This church was 
finished a century before the discovery of America, 
but the tooth of time has had little effect on its 
great massive walls. The stone floors are worn by 
the footsteps of the thousands who have been in the 
habit of coming to the grand old church during all 
these years. The spire is 403 feet high. The 
work on the tower is so delicate that it looks like 
lace from the street below. Napoleon, it is said, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 25 

was SO impressed with its beauty that he said the 
whole ought to be covered with a glass case. The 
view from the top of this tower is superb. Its 
chimes are among the finest in the world. The 
principal paintings in the church are the ''Descent 
from the Cross," the "Elevation of the Cross," 
"The Assumption," and "The Resurrection." 
In the "Elevation" Rubens has painted a picture 
of himself in armor. He frequently painted pic- 
tures of his wife to represent the Virgin. The pic- 
ture of "The Assumption" was painted in sixteen 
days. He received $640 for the work. ' ' The De- 
scent" was, stolen by Napoleon I., but, like most 
of the Emperor's stolen property, was afterwards 
returned. There is also a picture entitled "Christ 
in the Temple" in the Cathedral, but it is not 
famous. Of all paintings in Antwerp the "Descent 
from the Cross" impressed me most. There is the 
gaping spear-wound in the side, the blood still 
oozing out. So natural does it seem that one feels 
a strong impulse to spring forward and hold his 
handkerchief over the wound whilst the lifeless 
body is being lowered. The whole is so realistic 
that to see the picture is to remember it forever. 
The seats in the Cathedral, as in all the cathedrals 
of Europe, are movable. They consist mainly of 



26 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

splint chairs, with a little shelf attached to the rear 
for the person on the seat behind to support his 
hymn-book. These chairs are readily moved from 
one altar to another, inasmuch as mass is cele- 
brated before the various altars at different times. 
The church of St. Andrews has the finest pulpit 
in the world. It is a rich piece of oak carving. 
The Master walks upon the sea. Andrew and 
Peter are in the boat. Behind them is a back- 
ground, also carved, to represent a rocky coast, 
with the trunk of a tree in the foreground. Above 
these there is a canopy, on the one side of which 
are cherubs holding a tapestry in graceful folds. 
Two other cherubs are holding upright a St. An- 
drew's cross. It must be remembered that all this 
is carved out of solid oak. The art gallery not far 
from the Cathedral has many fine paintings, prin- 
cipally by Rubens, Vandyke and Keiser. This 
museum of art belongs to the city. The managers 
recently published two portraits exhibited in Paris 
last summer, for which they paid the neat sum of 

#35^000- 

The Church of St. Paul is also worthy of a visit. 
The confessionals in this church are beautiful 
carvings in oak. On the outside of the church 
there is a representation of Calvary. The walk 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 2/ 

which leads to the mount on the side of the church 
is skirted by stone walls. On these walls are 
statues of the Apostles. Adjacent to the church is 
the representation of Christ in the tomb, which is 
very realistic. Above this Mary holds the dead 
Christ on her knees. Others are standing near, 
their faces wearing expressions of the deepest sym- 
pathy. Still higher stands the cross with Christ 
upon it. The large stones placed at intervals in 
the walks were brought from Jerusalem. 

The mansion of Charles V. faces an open square 
in the most beautiful part of the city. It is a 
building six stories high, standing like a ghost to 
personate that king's cunning, cruelty and treach- 
ery. The building is now used as a warehouse. 

Among other places of interest in the historical 
old city are the public library, the botanical and 
zoological gardens, the bourse, the bank, the home 
of Rubens, the monuments and the public parks. 
One can well spend weeks in Antwerp without 
tiring. 

From Antwerp we went to Brussels. The two 
cities are only twenty-nine miles apart. The ride 
is through a beautiful country, well cultivated. In 
fifty-nine minutes we had made the distance and 
were safely landed in Brussels. There is a new 



28 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. 

and an old town. The former contains the royal 
palaces, the finest park in the city, the public prom- 
enade, the palace of justice, the libraries, and the 
museums. The principal church is the St. Guide. 
It is a large edifice with two high towers. The 
choir and transept were finished in 1273. The 
whole exterior was restored in 1843. I'his church 
is famous for its rich stained glass-windows. The 
pulpit is a fine specimen of oak carving, and by 
some believed superior to that in St. Andrews in 
Antwerp. There are statues of the twelve Apos- 
tles, and many costly monuments erected in mem- 
ory of the Duke of Brabant. 

The Hotel de Ville dates its beginning to that of 
the fifteenth century, and is one of the finest build- 
ings in Brussels. The tower is very fine, and rises 
to the height of 364 feet. The vane on the tower 
is a figure of St. Michael in gilded copper, and is 
seventeen feet high. In the same square upon 
which the Hotel de Ville is situated is the building 
in which Count Egmont spent his last night on 
earth. Where he met his death his statue and 
that of the Count of Horn now stand. These ever 
remind the reader of the account of the perfidy of 
the Duke of Alva, who after having promised Kg- 
mont protection, and having received his presents, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 29 

basely condemned him to death, and watched the 
tragedy from a window overlooking the whole 
scene. 

Brussels has a public library containing 25,000 
volumes and 20,000 MSS. The collection of paint- 
ings in the museum, once the residence of the 
Spanish and Austrian governors, are famous. The 
paintings are all the work of one man, who is said 
to have been partly demented. There is a scene 
from Homer's Iliad. Another represents the soul 
leaving the body, in three scenes — first, a human 
form, then the soul leaving the form, then the form 
a corpse and the soul a shadow at its side. An- 
other painting represents Napoleon in hell. He is 
met by the widows whose husbands he destroyed. 
Next come the husbands and brothers whom he 
slew [in battle; their fists are clenched and their 
faces wear bitter scowls. The scene is horrible. 
There is another, of a man raising the lid from the 
coffin in which he was placed before he was actu- 
ally dead. To see the cadaverous face with its ex- 
pression of horror is to remember it forever. 

Brussels in the newer part is noted for its clean 
wide streets and its fine buildings. As a manu- 
facturing city it excels in the making of fine lace, 
leather, linen and woolen goods, earthenware, 



30 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. 

chemicals, carriages, and steam engines. In short,, 
it takes rank among the first cities in Europe in 
its manufactories. The whole kingdom of Bel- 
gium is a little more than one-fourth as large as 
the State of Pennsylvania, but it sustains a popu- 
lation nearly twice as large. It has played an im- 
portant part in the history of Europe. French is 
the language of the educated. Most of the peas- 
antry speak Flemish. The country is not distin- 
guished for its natural scenery. It is level and 
well cultivated. 

We left Belgium at 7 a. m. on February 25th, 
for Switzerland and Italy, well pleased with what 
we had seen of the first country we visited in 
Europe. 



CHAPTER III. 

Gi^ASGOW — Third City in United Kingdom — The Clyde — De- 
scription of City — University — Cathedral-^ Water Supply. 

Edinburgh — In Scotch History — The University — Persecutions 
— "Bluidy Mackenzie" — The Castle — Chapel of Margaret — 
Mons Meg — The Palace — The Crown-room — The Cathedral — 
John Knox — Streets in New Town — Scott Monument — Sight 
by Night. 

I HAD a good jaunt through the great commer- 
cial city of Scotland just before I embarked for 
America, having come from Alexandria in Egypt 
by way of Messina and Corsica to Marseilles, and 
from thence to Paris, London and Edinburgh. 
For evident reasons I prefer to speak of these cities 
before I take the reader to France, Italy, Egypt 
and Syria. 

Glasgow is the third city in the United King- 
dom, and has a population of nearly one million 
souls. The ship-building interests on the Clyde 
are the most extensive in the world. The river 
Clyde is a narrow stream, and is always filled with 
great ships, which come from every country in the 
world. We came near having a collision on our 

(31) 



32 A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

way down the stream. How collisions can be 
avoided in this crowded stream is a mystery to me. 
The residences of Glasgow are very fine. Th e old 
part of the town lies along the river, but the newer 
and finer part of the city stretches np to the rolling 
ground. Here are fine parks surrounding wealthy 
gentlemen's houses. Near the centre of the city is 
George's Square. Here is an equestrian statue of 
Queen Victoria, statues of Walter Scott, the poet 
Campbell, Sir John Moore, Lord Clyde and others 
also adorn the square. The university, established 
in i868j is an immense structure, covering six. acres 
of ground. It has ninety-eight departments of in- 
struction, and is destined to become one of the 
finest institutions of learning in Europe. The 
Cathedral is the most interesting structure in this 
city. Its foundations were laid nearly 800 years 
ago, upon the site occupied by a church built by 
St. Mungo five hundred years earlier. Originally 
it was a Roman Catholic place of worship; then it 
became the property of the Episcopalians. When 
the Presbyterian church became the established 
church, her ministers preached in this edifice. 
There are many famous tombs within its sacred 
walls. The city receives its water supply from 
Lake Katrine, immortalized by Sir Walter Scott. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 33 

This water is of an excellent quality. There are 
many fine stores on the long, broad street. The 
people are polite, hardy and industrious. 

From Glasgow to Edinburgh is a pleasant two 
hours' ride by express train through a delightful 
country. Edinburgh is an old, and to the Scotch a 
sacred city. It has been called the Athens and the 
Jerusalem of Scotland. It has been noted for its 
culture and its bravery for many centuries. There 
are few cities in Europe where there is more to ad- 
mire and to interest than in the capital of Scotland. 
"Nothing can state its infinite variety, and what- 
ever the tastes of the individual are — whether anti- 
quarian, romantic, picturesque or scholarly — they 
can all be satiated within a stone's throw of the 
castle-crowned crag that towers monarch -like over 
the city." One can spend days of profit and of 
pleasure in its palaces, its churches, and its histor- 
ical places. 

Some of the oldest institutions in this historic 
city are by no means mere relics for the antiquar- 
ian. They have the progressive spirit of the nine- 
teenth century. Among these is the University, 

which now has more than one thousand students. 

i 

It was chartered by James VI. of Scotland in 1582. 

It is one of the finest institutions of learning in the 
3 



34 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 

world. Its library is one of the most select and 
perfect in Europe. Besides the university, Edin- 
burgh has a High-school which cost $250,000. In 
this city was fought many a battle for the faith. 
It was the scene of martyrdom for the cause of 
Christ. From 1661, in which year Argyle was 
beheaded, to February, 1688, there were destroyed 
18,000 people. Of these, about 100 were killed in 
Edinburgh. These people were true to their 
country's highest good. They were true to their 
faith, preferring death rather than worshipping 
God contrary to the dictates of their consciences. 
In the antiquarian museum the guillotine with 
which the Covenanters were beheaded is still to be 
seen. There are the thumb-screws by means of 
which they extorted confession from their hapless 
victims. By browbeating and torture, James 
Duke of York, Dalziel and Graham of Claverhouse 
tried the passive heroism of the confessors. Sir 
George Mackenzie, as the king's advocate, was so 
zealous in persecuting those who were apprehended 
that he received the ignoble title of "bluidy 
Mackenzie." For many years after his death the 
boys went to his tomb and called into the keyhole 

*' Bliiidy Mackenzie, come out if ye daur, 
Lift the sneck and draw the bar." 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 35 

The population of Edinburgh is at present about 
250,000. For centuries it was a little town consist- 
ing of a few straw-thatched huts occupying a part 
of the middle ridge of the three hills upon which 
the modern city is built. Then in the days of 
Mary of Guise it consisted of a "dense array of tall 
stone fabrics extending along the top of the hill 
to the palace of Holyrood, more than a mile in. 
length." The tall piles, the lofty spires and the 
grand old rock gave it an impressive appearance. 

Among the prominent objects of interest to-da}^ 
is the old castle. This huge stone pile is perched 
on the summit of a rock 443 feet high. Upon this 
rock men lived long before the authentic records of 
Scotland began. Previous to the siege of 1573 the 
eastern front of the fortress must have been pictur- 
esque in the extreme. Mr. W. Chambers, in de- 
scribing the castle as it then was, says: "The 
principal and central object was a donjon or keep, 
rising 60 feet above the summit of the rock, and 
known by the name of David's Tower, having 
been erected by David IT. between 1367 and 1371. 
From the palace, a curtain wall extended north- 
ward along the front of the rock to this tower, from 
which it again passed on in the same direction to a 
somewhat smaller tower, the remains of which still 



36 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

exist embedded in the present half-moon battery; 
Onward from this smaller one the wall went north- 
wards till it reached another tower of greater im- 
portance, called the Constable's Tower, being the 
residence of that officer, and which rose 50 feet 
high from the rocky platform, exactly over the 
site of the present portcullis gate, and accessible 
by a stair ascending the face of the rock, which 
formed the sole means of reaching the citadel or 
upper platform of the castle. In the siege above 
referred to, five batteries played for nine days upon 
the eastern front, and wrought such ruin that 
David's Tower and the Constable's being wholly 
beaten down, all passage out or in was debarred by 
the mass of debris ; and the gallant Kirkcaldy and 
his brave companions, when they surrendeded, had 
to be let down over the front by a rope. The 
whole of the present eastern front was constructed 
by the Regent Morton immediately after the siege." 
On this hill is the chapel of Queen Margaret. 
It was built in the eleventh century. It is the 
smallest and the oldest chapel in Scotland, meas- 
uring only 16/2 feet by io>^ feet. It is interest- 
ing with its single window and its rough walls of 
mighty stone, because it teaches us what priva- 
tions even kings and queens endured in those days 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 37 

in their public and private life. The old gun 
Mons Meg is quite a curiosity. Some say it was 
** forged at Mons, in Belgium, in 1476, while 
others assert that it was fabricated in Galloway, 
and used by James II. at the siege of Thrieve 
Castle in 1455. But however that may be, it is 
known to have been employed by James IV. at the 
siege of Dumbarton in 1489, and at that of Nor- 
hani Castle, on the Borders, in 1497. It burst 
when firing a salute in honor of the Duke of York 
in 1682; was removed to the tower of London in 
1754; but was restored to Scotland (mainly at the 
intercession of Sir Walter Scott) by command of 
King George IV. in 1829. 'I^his large cannon is 
formed of long pieces of malleable iron, held 
together by strong hoops of the same material. 
It is 13 feet long, 20 inches in diameter."* 

On this same hill is the ancient palace which for 
centuries formed the home and stronghold of the 
kings and queens of Scotland. The room in 
which James II. of England was born is pointed 
out on the ground floor. The original ceiling of 
the room is still to be seen. On the wall is the 
royal arms. Beneath is the following: 

* * ' Guide to Edinburgh. ' ' . 



38 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

"Lord Jesu Christ, that crounit was with Thornse, 
Preserve the Birth, quhais Badgie heir is borne. 
And send Hir Sonne successione, to Reign stille, 
Long in this Realm, if that it be thy will. 
Als grant, O Lord, quhat ever of Hir proceed, 
Be to Thy Honer, and Praise, sobied. 
19th IVNII, 1566." 

The crown room contains the crown with which 
the kings of the reahn were crowned. The sceptre 
is of solid silver. It is 34 inches long, and is sur- 
mounted by statues of the Virgin, St. Andrew 
and St. James. Here too is a sword which Pope 
Julius II. presented to James IV. A ruby ring set 
with diamonds and worn by Charles I. at his coro- 
nation is also shown in this room. All these 
royal relics are under a glass case. 

Everybody who goes to Edinburgh visits Holy- 
rood House, where once the kings of Scotland 
lived. It is now "a deserted palace, where no 
monarch dwells. ' ' The picture gallery is a large 
room, and contains imaginary portraits of kings of 
Scotland, real and fictitious. These portraits were 
painted 200 years ago. The most interesting 
apartments in the palace are the rooms of Queen 
Mary, the beautiful, the blameworthy, and the un- 
fortunate queen of the Scots. Her furniture is still 
there. Even the moth-eaten and decayed curtains, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 39 

once of the richest damask silk, are on the fasten- 
ings as the servants of the queen left them. In the 
small closet adjoining the bed chamber David 
Rizzio was murdered. Darnley and his co-con- 
spirators gained access by a secret stairway. As 
we look upon these rooms we can only exclaim, 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave. 
Await alike the inevitable hour ; 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

The chapel royal or Abbey of Holy rood was 
founded in 11 28. It is now a ruin. Here Mary 
was married to Darnley. Kings and queens were 
crowned here, but its glory has departed. It is 
eloquent in its ruins. 

Another place of interest is the Cathedral. A 
church is said to have stood here as early as the 
ninth century. In 1466, at which time there wese 
forty altars within its walls, together with an arm- 
bone of St. Giles (after whom the church is 
named), James III. made it a collegiate church. 
At the Reformation the building was divided into 
four separate places of worship. The section east 
of the transept, now known as High Church, was 
made the parish church of the city, and John 



40 A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC 1.ANDS. 

Knox was appointed pastor. It was here, in July 
1565, that he delivered the bold speech against 
Mary's marriage with Darnley, whom Randolph, 
an English ambassador, calls ' ' an intolerable fool, ' ' 
and who was a libertine and unworthy of the 
beautiful and unfortunate Mary queen of Scots. 
At that time this bold preacher denounced the 
nobles and others for their inactivity in the matter. 
''I see," said he, suddenly stretching out his 
arms, as if he would leap from the pulpit and ar- 
rest the passing vision, "I see before me your 
beleaguered camp. I hear the tramp of the horse- 
men as they charge you in the streets," — and in 
a strain of lofty and sustained eloquence he de- 
nounced, exhorted, and warned his hearers, with 
such vehemence, says Melvil, that "he was like to 
ding [dash] the pulpit in blads [splinters] and flee 
out of it!" * 

Knox was for ten years a priest. He was in 
England four years, but Scotland gave him his 
fame. He was a mighty champion of the truth. 
The old pulpit from which he spoke with such 
power is still to be seen in the antiquarian 
museum. Between the Cathedral and Parliament 
buildings there is a brown stone about a foot and 

* "Guide to i^dinburgh." 




MONUMENT OF JOHN KNOX, EDINBURGH. 



Page 41 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 41 

a half square, with the following in brass raised 
letters, 

I. K. 
1572. 

Here it is said repose the mortal remains of the 
great reformer of Scotland. 

At the head of the street called Canongate still 
stands the house in which Knox lived. It consists 
of three rooms, a study, a sitting-room and a bed- 
room. The second story is reached by a flight of 
steps on the outside. Running across the whole 
width of the building, above the door of the lower 
story, is the following: ^'Lufe, God. Abufe, Al. 
And Yi Nychtbour, iVs, Yi Self." 

From Calton Hill, off Princess Street, one has a 
magnificent view of Prince Arthur's Seat, of the 
city and the new bridge across the Frith of Forth, 
twelve miles away. There are monuments of 
Burns, Playfair, Dugald Stewart and Nelson on 
this hill; also an unfinished structure which is in- 
tended to commemorate the Scotch who fell in the 
battles consequent to the French Revolution. 

Edinburgh consists of a new and old part. It is 
with regard to the new town that I wish now to 
speak. The railroad runs between the two towns, 



42 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

SO called. For quite a distance on both sides of 
the railroad is a deep ravine. In this ravine and 
on the slopes on either side there are fine trees, 
beautiful walks, and flower-plots tastily arranged. 
In this park, on the Princess Street side, is the 
monument of Sir Walter Scott. It was erected in 
1840-44 at a cost of $75,000. It is in the form of 
an open crucial Gothic spire, supported on four 
grand early English arches, which serve as a canopy 
to the statue, and is about 200 feet high. A stair- 
case in the interior of one of the columns leads to a 
series of galleries, to which visitors are admitted on 
payment of two-pence. Under the central base- 
ment arch is a marble statue, by Steell, of Sir Wal- 
ter, with a figure of his favorite dog Maida at his 
feet; it v/as inaugurated in 1846, and cost ;^2000. 
In the niches above the several arches are figures 
of some of the leading characters in his works. 
The architect was a self-taught genius named 
George Meikle Kemp, the son of a shepherd at 
Newhall, on the southern slope of the Pentland 
Hills, near Edinburgh, who was accidentally 
drowned in the Union Canal before the work was 
completed. Immediately to the west is a bronze 
statue, the work of Mr. Hutchinson, R. S. A., 
erected to the memory of Adam Black, Lord Pro- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 43 

vost and M. P. for the city, and publisher of the 
Encyclopcedia Britannica. * 

Princess Street is one of the finest streets not 
only in Edinburgh, but in all England. In fact, 
all the streets of the new town are wide, well paved 
and clean. The buildings are massive stone struc- 
tures. There is a uniformity in the buildings of 
different blocks which is carried out in the minutest 
detail. From my hotel (the Royal) I had a beau- 
tiful view of the old town. The streets there rise 
in terraces. At night when the whole hill is illu- 
minated by lights on the streets and in the build- 
ings, the effect is very pretty. On the hill there, 
some of the most momentous events in Scotch his- 
tory occurred. Events there transpired which are 
as brilliant in the galaxy of the histories of nations 
as the hillside with its myriad lights in the night 
time. May the sons and daughters continue to 
prize what was purchased at so great a cost, is the 
wish of the author of this little volume. 

*" Guide to Edinburgh." 



CHAPTER IV. 

London, on Road to — Sabbatic Quiet — Spurgeon's— St. Paul's 
— Westminster Abbey — Parliament Buildings — The Tower- 
British Museum — Bank of England — Drive — St. James' Pal- 
ace — Albert Memorial — Bridges — Concluding Remarks. 

From Edinburgh to Eondon is an eight hours' 
ride on one of the best-equipped roads in the United 
Kingdom, if not in the world. The cars are wide 
and comfortable when compared with some in 
which I have ridden in Egypt and the Continent. 
The time made by the Flying Dutchman, the 
Flying Irishman, and the Flying Scotchman, as 
the three express trains on the Eondon Northwest- 
ern are called, is excellent, and so well are these 
trains managed that one scarcely ever hears of an 
accident. 

It was Sunday morning when we arrived in Eon- 
don. The sky was clear; for once there was no fog 
either in the city or its environments. We in- 
stinctively felt that we were really in God's coun- 
try. Everywhere in the country and the small 
towns outside the great city people neatly attired, 
with hymn-books in their hands, were on their 

(44) 



A WINTER JAIJNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 45 

way to church. Soon after a good breakfast at the 
"Covent Garden" hotel we started for Spurgeon's 
tabernacle. In the yard we were handed an en- 
velope, into which we put a small contribution and 
deposited it in a box, also in the yard. We entered 
the church by a side door. It is an immense 
structure, one hundred and thirty-six feet long. It 
has four aisles and three rows of seats, and two gal- 
leries which run entirely around the house. Take 
an Qgg and cut down a bit of its side, place it on 
this side, then put two galleries around it; put the 
rostrum on a level with the first gallery at the nar- 
rower end of it, and you have a good idea of the 
interior of Spurgeon's tabernacle. The usher puts 
you on a side seat until ten minutes before the be- 
ginning of the service, when all pews not filled by 
the regular renters are at the service of the public. 
The deacons are very polite, and have a word and 
hand-shake for everybody. Promptly on time the 
great preacher enters. There is nothing very 
marked about him — ponderous, red-faced, kind- 
looking. I knew him from his picture when I 
saw him speaking to one of his deacons in the 
aisle. The service was opened by a short, irnpress- 
ive prayer; then a hymn was announced. A man 
at Spurgeon's side led the song. There is no choir. 



46 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

The vast audience of 4000 joined the song. The 
time was execrable, but the singing was impress- 
ive. After singing, the great man led in prayer. 
He literally talked with God. His Scripture read- 
ing and his prayer impressed me much more than 
his sermon. He read the account of the healing 
of the man born blind, and interspersed his reading 
with frequent and appropriate comments. He 
preached on the words "Dost thou believe on the 
Son of God?" I for one went away not a little 
profited. 

In the afternoon our company attended service 
in St. Paul's Cathedral. We listened to Canon 
I<iddon. Being seated just beyond the transept, 
much of the sermon was lost through the echo. 
The singing by an immense choir immediately in 
front of the speaker was very fine. The vast edifice 
was nearly full, thus showing that not all churches 
in England are empty. 

St. Paul's is the fifth largest cathedral in the 
world. The present building was begun in 1675. 
The plans were made by the celebrated Christopher 
Wren. The building is in the form of a I^atin 
cross, and cost nearly four million dollars. Already 
in the time of Constantine a Christian church oc- 
cupied the site of the present cathedral. We read 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 47 

accounts of the restoration of a building or build- 
ings on this ground as early as 610, 961 and 1087. 
St. Paul's is beautiful in the highest sense of the 
wofd. The distance from the street to the top of 
the dome is 404 feet. The cross and the ball on 
the top of the dome weigh nearly half a ton. In 
the cupola, 260 feet from the street, is the famous 
whispering gallery. A whisper on the one side 
of the gallery is distinctly heard on the other side, 
a distance of 108 feet. In the dome the visitor has 
an excellent view of the ceiling painted by Thorn- 
hill. It is said while the great artist was at work 
he stepped steadily backward in viewing his paint- 
ing, when he reached the edge of the scaffold and 
would certainly have fallen had not an assistant 
dashed his brush upon the work, which broke the 
spell and caused the artist to spring forward, thus 
saving his life. St. Paul's has nearly a hundred 
monuments. The ashes of Lord Wellington and 
Lord Nelson, two of England's greatest generals, 
lie buried here. 

In the evening of the same day we visited West- 
minster Abbey. Cannon Farrar was out of town, 
but it did not matter to us. The crowd was so 
large that I stood in the Poets' Corner for a little 
while, then went out, and after a brief walk went 



K 



v> 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 49 

"The cloud-capped towers, 
The gorgeous palaces, 
The solemn temples 
The great globe, itself, yea 
All which it inherits. 
Shall dissolve 
And like the baseless 
Fabric of a vision, 
Leave not a wreck behind." 

John Gay's tribute is from his own writino^s, 

"Life is a FEST, and all things show it ; 
I thought so once, but now I know it." 

The tribute to the Wesleys consists of a marble 
slab having upon it the faces of the two brothers 
and the following: "John Wesley was born June 
17th, 1703, died March 2d, 1791. Charles Wesley, 
born December i8th, 1708, died March 29th, 1788. 
The best of all, God is with us." 

Below is a figure of Wesley preaching and the 
words, ' ' I look upon all the world as my parish. 
God buries his workmen, but carries on his 
work." 

The number of epitaphs and inscriptions is al- 
most infinite in the grand old edifice. 

The names of kings, jurists, theologians, reform- 
ers, philosophers and poets are recorded there in 



50 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

every form that can be imagined. The oldest tomb 
in the abbey is that of King Sebert, dated A. D. 
6x6. There is a Roman sarcophagus here which 
was found under one of the tombs in 1869. The 
shield and helmet worn by the Black Prince are 
placed over the chapel of Henry VII. Dean Stan- 
ley's is one of the latest tombs in this great house 
of the dead. Our own lyongfellow's name is re- 
corded in the Poets' Corner. Of this house it may 
well be said, the very walls are eloquent. The 
stones in the floor upon which you tread nearly all 
contain a record of some great name. It is a place 
in which one might spend months with profit. 

Close to Westminster Abbey are the new houses 
of Parliament. These buildings cover an area of 
eight acres, and contain iioo apartments, 100 stair- 
cases, and two miles of corridors. The foundation 
stone of these structures was laid April 27th, 1840. 
The House of I^ords is one of the finest halls in the 
world. It contains the throne for the queen. A 
woolsack (a chair cushioned with wool) in the centre 
of the hall is the place where the I^ord Chancellor 
sits. The floor is a pavement of fine mosaics; the 
ceiling is in gilded panels. The whole is spoiled 
by the extreme height of the ceiling. The ends 
of the chamber contain beautiful frescoes. There 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 5 1 

are twelve figures in the glass-stained windows, of 
barons who compelled King John to grant the 
Magna Charta. The queen's entrance is through 
the tower bearing her name. The cellars of the 
building are always examined two hours before the 
queen's arrival, so that the place may be safe for 
her majesty. The House of Commons contains- 
nothing of special note. The outside of the build- 
ing is blackened by the soot and smoke, which de- 
face all buildings in lyondon. On the side facing 
the square are the statues of the kings of England 
in niches. The stone of this magnificent structure, 
it is said, is already yielding to the tooth of time. 
The roof is finely docorated; the great clock in the 
tower has four dials thirty feet in diameter. The 
building cost upward of ^20, 000, 000. 

Everybody who comes to Eondon visits the fam- 
ous London Tower. This is an old place, dating 
back to the days of Julius Caesar. Its present 
buildings cover twelve acres. It includes the bar- 
racks, the armory containing 60,000 stand of arms, 
the White Tower, Jewel Tower, Bloody Tower, 
the Brick Tower, and the Beauchamp Tower. 
Ever since its erection it has figured prominently 
in English history. At one time it was the royal 
residence. Stephen is the first monarch mentioned 



52 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

as having resided in this place. When we arrived 
at the Tower we were compelled to hand our satch- 
els and parcels to the guard, for fear that their con- 
tents might be dangerous. The English are ter- 
ribly afraid of dynamite. The guards here are 
dressed in the uniform of the Middle Ages, It 
consists of a big black hat, a coat with a gathered 
.skirt, and a rosette. We passed the gateway of 
the Tower of Richard II., known as the traitor's 
•gate, because traitors were taken through this way 
lo the place of execution. We passed over the 
■stairs underneath which the bones of Edward V. 
and those of his brother were found, to St. John's 
chapel, where the king and suite used to worship; 
then into the banquet hall, where Richard III. con- 
demned Hastings; then into the council chamber 
where Guy Fawkes was examined. This room is 
filled with armor of the sixteenth century. Here 
we saw the mask of Will Sommers, court jester of 
Henry VIII. Here too is an exact image of Queen 
Elizabeth on horseback and of her page, as they 
appeared when they went to St. Paul's to give 
thanks at the destruction of the Armada. Near 
by is the cloak on which Wolfe died at Quebec. 

We next went into the torture chamber under 
the Tower, the walls of which are 14 feet in thick- 



A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 53 

iiess. The holes in the floor indicate the place 
where the rack was located. Opposite the entrance 
is a small room, "Little Ease," not large enough 
to lie down in. Here Guy Fawkes was confined 
seven weeks. Through this chamber we enter the 
crypt under St. John's chapel, where, without light 
or comfort, as high as three hundred prisoners 
were kept at one time. Quitting this, we went 
where the scaffold for private execution used to be 
located. Here Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey 
were executed. After witnessing a drill of red- 
coats we went to Beauchamp Tower. In this tower 
many of England's great men and women were 
imprisoned. Many of these have left inscriptions 
on the walls of this old place. In making of these 
they beguiled the weary days and months of their 
imprisonment. Lady Jane Grey has left the word 
"Jane" upon the walls. On the left of the last 
recess is a long and interesting inscription, by 
Charles Bailly, as follows: "The fear of the Lord 
is the beginning of wisdom." "I.H.S.X.P.S." 
"Be friend to one — Be ennemye to none." Anno 
D. 1571, 10 Sept. "The most vnhappy man in 
the world is he that is not pacient in adversities ; 
For men are not killed with the adversities they 
have, bvt with ye impacience which they svffer." 



54 A WINTER JATTNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

'^All who come to attend." "The sighs are the 
true testimonies of my anguish." Act 29th. 
Charles Bailly. "Hope to the end, and have 
pacience." 

Under Bailly's inscription is one by "Arthur 
P001.E," consisting of the following: — "IHS. A 
passage perillus makethe a port pleasant. Ao. 
1568. Arthur Poole." On the right of the fire- 
place is the name of John Dudley, Duke of 
Northumberland, who was confined here in 1533. 
He carved a device consisting of his family cogni- 
zance, "the lion, and bear and ragged staff," un- 
derneath which is his name, and the whole is 
surrounded by a border consisting of oak sprigs, 
roses, geraniums, and honeysuckles, emblematical 
of the Christian names of his four brothers, as 
appears from the unfinished inscription written 
underneath: 

" Yow that these beasts do wel behold and se, 
May deme with ease wherefore here made they be, 
Withe borders eke wherein 
4 brothers' names who list to serche the grovnd." 

Tliere are many other interesting inscriptions 
which we can not here reproduce. 

Leaving the Beauchamp Tower we visited the 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 55 

Jewel Tower. This contains the crown jewels and 
royal regalia, in a circular iron cage. The collec- 
tion is valued at ^20,000,000. The great Kohinoor 
diamond, now belonging to Victoria, is among the 
collection. St. Edward's staff is solid gold orna- 
mented with jewels. Here is the baptismal bowl 
from which kings and queens have been baptized. 
Queen Victoria's crown consists of a cap of purple 
velvet, enclosed with hoops of silver, surmounted 
by a ball on which is a cross. The whole is orna- 
mented with diamonds. 

Another place of interest is the famous British 
Museum. It is midway between Regent's Park 
and Waterloo Bridge. Under the wings and porti- 
coes of the immense building are Ionic columns. 
In the entrance hall are beautiful statues and pic- 
tures. The collections of antiquities are appropri- 
ately arranged and grouped in different rooms of 
the great buildings. There is an India room and 
an Egyptian room in which are the collections from 
ancient Egypt. Its marble statuary is very fine, 
comprising the Elgin, Phigalean and Townley 
collections. The library numbers nearly one 
million volumes. Besides these, there is a large 
and very important collection of MSS. We saw 
letters written by Melanchthon, I^uther, Sir 



56 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

Thomas Moore, Drake, Walter Raleigh, Cranmer, 
Newton, and others. Samples of nearly all of 
England's sovereigns', statesmen's and authors' 
chirography are preserved here. The last letter 
ever penned by Charles Dickens is here also. The 
collections in natural history are the finest in the 
the world. 

In the centre of the square surrounded by the 
Museum is the New Reading Room, a hall covered 
by a large dome of glass. It accommodates four 
hundred readers or writers. The seats are all 
numbered, and radiate from the centre like spokes 
in a wheel. I did not spend much time in the de- 
partments which contain the Egyptian Antiquities, 
inasmuch as I had visited the important and inter- 
esting Boulak Museum near Cairo. Here is the 
celebrated Codex Alexandrinus, which was written 
A. D. 464, and believed to be the oldest dated MS. 
of the Bible extant. 

The Bank of England is a plain-looking build- 
ing, but is very large, covering nearly four acres of 
ground. This bank, besides managing the great 
debt of England, does an extensive business. Here 
are gathered the great brokers, stock-jobbers and 
men handling money for various firms, companies 
and exchanges. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 57 

One afternoon whilst in the city we took a drive 
in open barouches; the day was delightful. We 
drove along Pali-Mall, Trafalgar Square, St. James 
Place and Marlborough, to the house of the Prince 
of Wales. The home of the Prince of Wales is a 
large, cool-looking place. But I am sure I have 
seen as fine homes and residences in America. In 
St. James' Palace the sovereigns used to reside pre- 
vious to Victoria's residence in the Buckingham 
Palace. St. James' Palace has contained the scene 
of many a birth and many a death. Queen Mary 
I. and Henry, son of James L, died here. George 
IV. and James II. were born here. Prince Albert 
and Queen Victoria were married at St. James, in 
the chapel. We also drove to Hyde Park, which 
is one of the finest parks in the world. It covers 
an area of 500 acres. In it is the beautiful Albert 
Memorial, erected in 1851 in honor of Prince 
Albert. At the corners of the elevation on which 
the monument rests, are groups representing 
Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Reliefs and 
frescoes to the number of 169 occupy the space to 
the winged angels at the top and on the east and 
south fronts. The central space contains Prince 
Albert seated under a grand canopy. Of course we 
visited Regent's Park, which is nearly as large as 



58 A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

Hyde Park, and just as pretty. It is surrounded 
by mansions of London's most wealthy people. 
There are zoological and botanical gardens in this 
park. St. James Park resembles in shape a kite. 
The head is marked by the Horse Guards in the 
centre, the Admiralty on the right, the Treasury 
on the left, and Buckingham palace at the tail. 
Green Park is famous for its entrance from Picca- 
dilly by a triumphial arch surmounted by a statue 
of Wellington. It is one of the finest small parks 
in L/ondon. 

London has some very fine bridges, among them 
London Bridge, and Westminster Bridge. The first 
of these is very old, and figures prominently in 
story and song. The city has about i,6oo places of 
worship, and 2,500 including those in suburbs. It 
has 45 theatres and 400 music halls. The Jews 
have 25 synagogues. This modern Babylon has 
4,500,000 people, but strange to say, of this number 
only about 30,000 sleep in the city. This is what 
gives it the deserted appearance on the Sabbath 
morning, when millions are in their homes in the 
suburbs. The population is said to increase at the 
rate of 4,500 annually. London has more Roman 
Catholics than Rome, more Jews than Palestine, 
and more Irish than Belfast. Its streets placed 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 59 

end to end would extend from Glasgow to New 
York. This enormous population and visitors 
consume 16,000,000 bushels of wheat annually. 
They eat 800,000 oxen, 4,000,000 sheep, 9,000,000 
poultry, and 131,000 tons of fish. The amount of 
liquids necessary to slake the thirst of this vast 
population is almost incredible. It is said 150,- 
000,000 of gallons of water are used daily. In 
addition to this, 180,000,000 quarts of beer and 
31,000,000 quarts of wine are drunk annually. 

To move this vast number of people 13,000 cab- 
men are employed, and the railroads measure 800 
miles in the city alone. 

Many of the streets are of historical interest. In 
Charing Cross, not far from the Cockpit, lived 
Oliver Cromwell, and the poet Spenser died; at 
Lincoln's Inn Fields, Russell was beheaded. On 
Tower Hill, some of England's most eminent men 
were guillotined. Near Whitehall, Charles I. was 
executed. The writings of Chaucer, Dickens, 
Fielding and others, have immortalized whole 
streets and districts. None can walk Fleet street 
or the Strand without thinking of Johnson, Oliver 
Goldsmith and Boswell. 

In this brief visit it is impossible even to men- 
tion half the places of interest. Enough has how- 



6o A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

ever been said to convince the reader that of all 
the cities in Europe, I^ondon is one of the most 
instructive and interesting. 



CHAPTER V. 

From Brussels to lyuzeme — The Country and the Houses — Lu- 
zerne — Lake — Bridges — Cathedral — The Lion — Rigi and Pil- 
atus — Luzerne to Milan — Grand Sceneries — St. Gothard — 
Into Italy — Change of Scenery. 

On the twenty-fifth of January, before it was 
daylight, we were on our way to the railway depot. 
At that hour already we met many peasants who 
had come from the country with their dog-carts 
loaded with vegetables for the markets of Brussels. 
By daylight we were in an express train bound for 
Luzerne. We went by way of Strassburg, Metz 
and Basel, a distance of 500 miles over the " Cen- 
tral Railroad of Belgium," 'Wilhelm, L/Uxembourg 
and Alsace -Lorraine," and "Switzerland" rail- 
roads. These roads take the traveler through 
well-cultivated districts in Belgium, Germany and 
Switzerland. The wagon roads everywhere are 
piked and well kept. The houses of the peasants 
are constructed of stone. The stable occupies the 
ground floor, or the one end of what otherwise 
look like comfortable homes. The manure pile 
before the front door is a substitute for serpentine 

(61) 



62 A winte:r jaunt in historic lands. 

walks and choice flower plots in our country. Here 
for the first time I saw women carrying immense 
bundles of wood on their heads. They wear great 
wooden shoes, short skirts, and generally have bare 
heads. Notwithstanding their life of drudgery 
and their apparently uncomfortable clothing, they 
seem content and happy. We had a pleasant all- 
day journey, with a good warm lunch neatly 
packed in a little basket. 

At eight o'clock we arrived in lyuzerne, very 
tired and very hungry. We were soon around a 
bounteous dinner table in the large and beautiful 
hotel ' ' Sweitzerhof. ' ' Early the next day we were 
ready to see the beautiful town. lyuzerne is on 
both sides of a crystal lake of the same name. 
This lake is four miles long, and ft)r the most part 
twelve hundred feet deep. The town receives its 
name from the light-house which stood here many 
years ago to guide boatmen on the lake and river 
Reuss. It has a wall on the land side which dates 
its beginning to feudal times. Three old bridges 
span the river, the oldest of which was built at the 
beginning of the fourteenth century. This bridge 
contains seventy-five pictures illustrative of Swiss 
history. The Muhlenbriicke, built in 1625, ^^^ a 
series of paintings called the *' Dance of Death. '^ 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 63 

The pictures represent human beings engaged in 
almost every work and pastime from the cradle to 
the grave. In every one of these scenes is a pic- 
ture of death. The Cathedral is a large building, 
and is noted for its organ, which is said to be the 
finest in the world. 

In the northern part of the town is a high rock 
into which is cut the figure of a lion dying upon a 
shield, in commemoration of the death of the Swiss 
guards who died in defence of the Tuileries, August 
loth, 1792. The model was designed by Thor- 
waldsen. 

Standing upon the shore of Lake Luzerne one 
has a splendid view of Mount Rigi, ten miles 
away. The grand old mountain is clad in a gar- 
ment of eternal white. Close to the town is Pi- 
latus, towering to the height of 7000 foet. This is 
the mount, tradition says, which Pilate touched 
with his feet when he' was borne by invisible hands 
from Jerusalem after delivering Christ to be cruci- 
fied. Two springs of pure water mark the spot 
where his feet touched. A hotel is situated near 
the springs. It must be a delightful spot, up there 
among the clouds where the scorching heat is 
never felt. Of course nobody believes the tradition. 
After visiting the shores and making a thorough 
tour of the old town, we were again on the wing. 



64 A WINTER JAUNl' IN HISTORI^ LANDS. 

From Luzerne to Milan in Italy the scenery is 
sublime. For the first ten miles after leaving I^u- 
zerne the traveler passes through a well cultivated 
country. There are pleasant homes, large apple 
orchards, and plenty of wood on the hillsides. 
After passing I^ake Zug we begin to enter a veri- 
table wonderland. There in the distance is old 
Rigi with its snow-capped summit looking like a 
mountain of burnished silver! The train passes 
rapidly onward. The scenery changes. Slowly, 
majestically, the great mountains come into view. 
The clouds hover along the sides of these great 
giant peaks, half way up their naked outlines, as if 
nature tried to cast a drapery around her grand 
handiwork, lest the soul of the beholder be rav- 
ished with the sublimity of the scene. The glist- 
ening snows and ice on those mighty summits are 
the resplendent light-houses lighting the soul 
heavenward from nature to nature's God. What 
mean those rapturous heart-throbs as she beholds 
these sublime scenes! Does not the soul by thus 
beating against its fetters of clay teach that she is 
destined to be free, to soar higher than these sub- 
lime peaks to a world more perfect in loveliness, 
and more pure because unstained by sin? A short 
distance from Brunnen a o;reat rock more than one 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 65 

hundred feet high shoots out of the water as if 
pushed upward by a mighty giant. This is called 
"Schillerstein." After passing this natural mon- 
ument the traveler enters St. Gothard's pass. The 
ascent is gradual. Erst Feld station is surrounded 
by peaks sheer up a thousand feet. 

"Round their hreasts the rolling clouds are spread, 
Kternal sunshine settles on tketr head." 

People build huge stone fences to keep the slid- 
ing earth and snows from crushing their growing 
crops and obliterating their little homes. In the 
ravines the railroad engineers have erected huge 
walls of solid masonry to prevent the rocks from 
tumbling on the tracks. We now pass through 
one tunnel after another; soon there are railroads 
far above and far beneath us. Over those above 
we will soon pass; over those below we have just 
come. We go up, up, until we are 7000 feet 
above the level of the sea. The ascent has been 
so gradual, so quiet, and the air so clear, the 
scenery so sulplime that the ride is voted the 
grandest of our lives. God built in St. Gothard a 
mighty monument, and Mr. Brunell, the engineer 
of this railroad, has carved the inscription of what 
man can do in this great achievement. I saw on 



66 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

the summit of the mountain near the restaurant a 
sample of American enterprise. In white letters 
upon a great rock, a countryman has written, 
"Use American Chocolate-drops." 

We took our lunch in cloud-land, in a restaurant 
built up there. The table was well supplied with 
everything calculated to satisfy a hungry man's 
appetite. The sides of the room of the restaurant 
are ornamented with large lettered mottoes. The 
following are some of them: "Trank und Speis 
starkt zur Reis," " Aufrechtigkeit ist die beste 
List,'' "First think, then drink." 

Before we speak of the descent it is well to 
note that St. Gothard's tunnel is nine and a 
quarter miles long, which is 2930 yards longer 
than Mt. Cenis. Express trains pass through it in 
twenty minutes. It was opened May 22, 1882, 
after working upon it ten years. The average 
number of men employed was 2500. At times as 
high as 3400 were at work. The line has fifty-six 
tunnels, twenty-five and a half miles long. It 
also has thirty-two large and twenty-four smaller 
bridges, and ten viaducts. The work cost $11,- 
000,000. 

Soon after lunch we heard "All aboard !" and 
then we went toward Italy. The descent begins ; 
soon we look down into little valleys — 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 6j 

"Through the parting clouds onl}- 
The earth can be seen, 
Far down neath the vapor 
The meadow of green . ' ' 

Soon we are on the borders of sunny Italy. We 
pass the lakes Lugano and Maggiore, with their 
magnificent sceneries. We have come to the 
edge of Como, with its precipitous mountain banks 
two or three thousand feet high. Along the shore 
are handsome mansions, the summer residences of 
the wealthy. We feel that we have come to sum- 
mer-land. The weather is pleasantly warm. It 
begins to rain. This causes the Italians along the 
road to put on their overcoats. With their hoods 
drawn over their heads, their dark features look 
quite savage. The houses we now see are stone, 
like those elsewhere; but they have a neglected 
air, which contrasts strangely with the beautiful 
valleys and hillsides with which the flying train 
has displaced the deep ravines and towering cliffs. 
We realize that we are in a Roman Catholic coun- 
try. There are numerous shrines along the road, 
before which pious Catholics bow for a moment's 
prayer. There are acres of vines which in the 
summer are laden with luscious grapes. Finally 
darkness closes upon the scene. After passing a 



68 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

number of towns in the darkness, we at length 
enter a large depot. We have arrived at Milan. 
After some delay, occasioned by a desire of the 
officious custom-house officers to review our bag- 
gage, which had already been done "when we en- 
tered Italy, we were permitted to proceed on our 
way to the hotel. A good dinner at ten o'clock, a 
short walk afterwards, and I was off to bed. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Paris — Situation and Size — Boulevards — Catacombs — Bois de 
Boulogne — Madeleine— Louvre— Palais Royal — Hotel des In- 
valides — Tomb of Napoleon — Cathedral — La St. Chapelle — 
Pantheon — St. Jacques — Bourse — Place de la Concorde. 

VERSAII.I.ES — Location — Royal Palace — Rooms of Marie 
Antoinette — Mirror— Museum— Paintings— Gardens — Lyons — 
Manufactures — Cathedral — Marseilles — Quays — Streets — Ca- 
thedral — Rain and the President. 

Paris is the second city in Europe in point or 
size, and the first in beauty. Its population is about 
one-half of that of London. It is situated in the 
centre of northern France. It is an old city, and 
formed a part of Caesar's dominion, B. C. 56. It 
was small then, having an area of only thirty-seven 
acres. At present its area is more than 20,000 
acres, or thirty square miles. The city is sur- 
rounded by a wall broken by 57 gates, besides the 
numerous entrances of the railroads. Paris is sur- 
rounded by low hills which are almost entirely 
covered by flower gardens, from which come the 
beautiful flowers w^hich fill the great markets and 
decorate the thousands of homes and churches. 
Immediately inside of the defences is one of the 

(69) 



70 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

great boulevards called the Military street. This 
street entirely surrounds Paris and is known un- 
der different names in different parts of its course. 
Another set of boulevards forms a circle around the 
centre of the city. When Louis Philippe was on 
the throne the city was greatly improved. It was 
then these boulevards were laid out where the old 
city ramparts once stood. These streets are the 
finest in Paris, and are filled from morning until 
late at night with persons bent on shopping and 
sigfht-seeinof. That which makes these streets so 
beautiful is their width, their green trees, and their 
magnificent buildings of light stone. This stone is 
nearly as white as marble. Much of it was taken 
from quarries which existed over one-eighth of the 
area beneath th'e city. It is estimated that 324,- 
000,000 cubic feet of stone have been taken out 
of these now exhausted quarries. The stone when 
first brought to the light of day is so soft that it 
can be cut with a plane. The ornamentation is 
done after the stones are in position in the wall. 

One of the most beautiful drives in the world is 
through the Bois de Boulogne. This is the princi- 
pal park in Paris. The most fashionable entrance 
is along the Champs Elysees. This park is nearly 
three times as laro^e as Central Park. It has 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 7 1 

beautiful flower-beds, elegant walks, large hand- 
some trees, an immense aquarium, and many other 
attractions. The principal avenue is one hundred 
yards wide and extends a distance of ten miles. 
All along this beautiful avenue are side walks for 
pedestrians, a road for horseback riding, and a car- 
riage drive. There are other parks in and near 
Paris but the only fine exterior one besides the 
Boisde Boulogne is the Bois de Vincennes. Many 
of the squares throughout the city have small 
parks. 

To describe all the places of interest on this 
magnificent city is beyond the province of this vol- 
ume. We will visit some of those which are most 
famous. The finest specimen of Greek architec- 
ture in the world is the Madeleine (St. Mary Mag- 
dalene). It is a hundred and fifty feet broad and a 
hundred feet high. It is surrounded by a line of 
fifty-two Corinthian columns, forty-nine feet high. 
The church has bronze doors over thirty feet high. 
They are covered with Old Testament scenes illus- 
trating the Ten Commandments. Over the front 
pillars on the pediment is a scene of the Judgment 
which is indeed beautiful as a work of art, and im- 
pressive, inasmuch as it illustrates one of the most 
awful scenes of which Revelation speaks. The 



72 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

sides within and the floors are of the finest marble. 
There are grand pieces of sculpture in this church. 
There were two weddings in progress when I was 
in this magnificent building. The scene was quite 
different from what it was in 1871, when upwards 
of 300 insurgents who had sought refuge here 
were put to the sword. 

One of the most interesting places in this city is 
the Louvre. This is the depository of vast treas- 
ures of art. It was begun in 1541, and was for- 
merly the residence of the kings of France. "The 
collections in the Louvre comprise Assyrian an- 
tiquities, Egyptian antiquities, Algerian discover- 
ies, sculptures of the Renaissance, modern sculp- 
tures, marble antiques, paintings of the Italian 
school, paintings of the Spanish school, paintings 
of the German school, paintings of the Flemish 
school, paintings of the Dutch school, museum of 
jewelery, museum of Hebrew antiquities, museum 
of the Kings, museum of Mediaeval art, museum 
of Designs, museum of the Navy, museum of Eth- 
nography, and American museum." 

Here are the sword of Napoleon I., with its 
diamond handle, and two crowns adorned with 
diamonds and precious stones. It was only last 
summer that a large diamond shown at the Paris 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 73 

Exhibition was purchased and added to this collec- 
tion. In this collection are many of the gems and 
crystal ware, once the property of royalty. One is 
impressed with the fact that the possession of all 
this wealth and splendor is but transient. Those 
who once prized these treasures as their own per- 
sonal property are gone to the land where wealth 
of this world has no power. 

Besides the almost innumerable paintings and 
the crown jewels, there is a museum of Egyptian 
antiquities, illustrating the domestic and the re- 
ligious life of these ancient people. One can al- 
most imagine himself in the Boulak Museum as he 
goes from one object of interest to the other in this 
stupendous collection. There is likewise an As- 
syrian collection, which gives one an excellent 
idea of this ancient civilization. 

It must be admitted that the collection of sculp- 
ture is not as fine as that of Florence or that in the 
Vatican, but it is by no means to be despised. The 
famous Venus of Milo is in a room by itself. The 
figure is armless, but the expression of the face, 
the graceful attitude and the life-like form, make 
up this deficiency. We cannot give even an idea 
of all to be seen in these vast halls and saloons of 
magnificence. Neither could a study of months 



74 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

fully master a history of these paintings, nor enter 
into the spirit of genius displayed on every side. 
These works are many of them the product of 
genius tinctured by feeling wrought by the events 
of the times. 

The new opera house is the finest in the world. 
It covers nearly three acres of ground. The en- 
trances are through sculptured arches. The in- 
terior is magnificent, with its statuary, its mosaics, 
and reliefs. The grand staircase consists of white 
marble steps, with balustrades and hand-rails of 
precious stones. Fifty people can stand abreast on 
one of the steps below the division. The stage is 
nearly two hundred feet long and seventy-five feet 
deep. There is a huge mirror at the end of the 
lobby which makes the building appear of unlim- 
ited length. The grandeur of this great playhouse 
can scarcely be appreciated, even when seen: much 
less can it be described. 

The Palais Royal is frequented by visitors to 
Paris. The elegance of its jewelry stores, the 
splendor of its restaurants, and the many people 
wandering through and along its beautiful avenues, 
make it a place worthy of many visits. This pal- 
ace was built by Cardinal Richelieu. He died in 
1642. From that time until the Commune in 



I 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 75 

1871 it was occupied by royalty and members of 
the royal family. This magnificent pile of build- 
ings suffered not a little at the hands of the Revo- 
lutionists in 1848. There is a small cannon which 
is so arranged that the rays of the sun are concen- 
trated about the fuse with sufficient power to fire it 
off, thus telling the Parisians when it is high noon. 
After having taken a drive to the Exposition 
buildings and viewed the grounds and the famous 
Eiffel tower, we visited the Hotel des Invalides. 
This magnificent soldiers' home was begun by 
Louis XIV., and finished in 1674. "In the gar- 
dens is a battery of artillery called the 'Triumphal 
Battery,' composed of guns taken in the wars of 
the First Empire, in the Crimea, in Algeria, and 
in China. Above the entrance to the building ap- 
pears a fine bas-relief representing Louis XIV. on 
horseback, with Justice and Prudence. Behind 
the fagade are five Courts of Honor, and arcades 
containing mural paintings illustrative of the 
military glories of France; a statue of Napoleon I. ; 
and the Museum of Artillery. The dining-halls, 
kitchens and dormitories of the pensioners may be 
visited, as well as the Council Chamber (portrait of 
Napoleon I.) and library of 60,000 volumes."* 

* Official Guide. 



76 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

The last soldier who fought under Napoleon I. 
died two years ago. 

The church adjoining the soldiers' home is 
worthy of notice. It at one time contained all the 
battle-flags taken in the wars of Napoleon I., to 
the number of 3,000. It has a magnificent paint- 
ing of Christ in the tomb. But what distinguishes 
it most is the tomb of Napoleon I. In the central 
part of the church is this magnificent tomb, where 
the body of Napoleon I. rests since 1840, when it 
was brought from St. Helena. The church itself 
is a square building 198 feet in breadth. It is sur- 
mounted by a dome 344 feet high ; this dome is 86 
feet in diameter. Immediately beneath this dome 
is the crypt, in the form of a basin, with walls of 
polished granite. In the centre of this basin is a 
sarcophagus of Finland granite. This rests upon 
a block of green granite. The gallery which sur- 
rounds the crypt is ornamented with bas-reliefs 
illustrating the achievements of the great man. 
Twelve statues under this gallery and around the 
sarcophagus represent the warrior's twelve princi- 
pal victories. Here there repose the ashes of the 
man who once made tyrants tremble. At his hand 
his countrymen suffered much and gained much. 
If he was a whip of scorpions in the hands of the 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. ^'J 

Almighty, his chastisements were attended with 
many reformations. He was ambitious, but 

"Who knows but He whose hand the lightning forms, 
Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms, 
Pours fierce ambition in a Caesar's mind?" 

Charity says ^^Requiescat hi pace P^ 

The chapel of Louis XIV. is noted for its beau- 
ful stained-glass windows of the eleventh century. 

We have already spoken of the Madeleine, but 
this is only one of the many churches of Paris. 
The cathedral of Notre Dame stands on the spot 
which was occupied by a Roman temple. A 
church, dedicated to St. Stephen, stood here as 
early as 360. The first stone of the present edi- 
fice was laid three and a quarter centuries before 
America was discovered. The glass stained win- 
dows are famous, especially the "Catherine WhelP' 
window on the north front. The carvings, col- 
umns and arches in the building are very pretty. 
The oro^an is one of the finest in the world. In 
this church are a "part of the true cross and crown 
of thorns" brought from Palestine by St. Louis. 
On the one tower is a bell brought from Sebasto- 
pol, on the other is the great Bourdon, one of the 
largest bells in the world. There are many await- 



78 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

iiig the archangel's trump at the resurrection morn 
in the large vaults beneath. When I was there 
the priests were chanting mass at a coffin about to 
be placed with the great majority. 

Here is a painting illustrative of the dream of 
the wife of Prince Harcourt. She dreamed that 
her husband was buried before he was dead. She 
had him exhumed, and found her dream true. 
There is an angel representing marriage and a 
man coming out of the tomb before the Duchess 
in kneeling posture. 

Near by the Cathedral rises the arrow-like spire 
of La Saint Chapelle. This church was built in 
three years (1245-8) by St. Ivouis, to receive the 
part of the true cross and crown of thorns which are 
now in Notre Dame. For many years this church 
lay in partial ruin, but it was thoroughly restored 
from 1837 to 1867. '*It now presents the complet- 
est, perhaps the finest, specimen of religious archi- 
tecture of the thirteenth century." 

The Pantheon (or St. Genevieve's) is in the 
form of a Greek cross. The four aisles unite 
under a dome 66 feet in diameter and 258 feet 
high. Madame Pompadour was the instigator of 
the building of this church, to replace an edifice 
which had been dedicated to St. Genevieve, the 



I 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 79 

patron saint of the city. It was made a church in 
1822, became a Pantheon again in 1831, and in 
1853 ^^ again became a church. In 1848 the inter- 
ior was damaged by cannon-shots fired at the in- 
surgents who had taken refuge there. The Com- 
munists were about to visit a worse fate upon it in 
1871. They had already stored gunpowder and 
petroleum in it with which to blow it up, but they 
were driven out before their nefarious work could 
be accomplished. The crypt contains tombs of 
some of those who with Madame Pompadour 
helped to plunge the French people into sin and 
infidelity. 

There is a beautiful painting illustrating scenes 
in the life of Joan d'Arc in this building. The 
first scene represents her as a shepherdess receiving 
inspiration from an angel, who is in the attitude of 
whispering into her ear. The next scene repre- 
sents her with sword in hand leading the army to 
victory. Again she stands behind the king as he 
is crowned. A smile of peace lights up her coun- 
tenance. The last scene represents her kissing the 
cross when she is already tied to the stake. We 
went all through the crypts beneath the church. 
They are marvels of solid masonry. We next 
visited the Palais du L/Uxembourg. The build- 



8o A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

ing dates from 1615. It has been the residence 
of princes, a prison in the Revolution, Chamber of 
Peers in the time of Louis Philippe, a senate 
house, etc. Now it contains paintings from the 
great French painters now living and a hall 
adorned with beautiful statuary. The ceiling of 
the gallery is adorned with paintings representing 
the Zodiac. The chapel adjoining is of the six- 
teenth century. 

On the Rue de Rivoli stands the tower of St. 
Jacques. The church was pulled down by the 
revolutionists. It is centrally located, and affords 
from its top a fine view of the city. The bridges 
over the Seine, the windings of the river, the 
parks and the great buildings, lie as on a map at 
your feet. 

We saw the Morgue, the dead house where 
unidentified persons found in the city limits are 
brought. There was rather a hard-looking crowd 
standing about the doors and in the narrow room 
in which, separated from the crowd of visitors by a 
glass casing, the dead are exposed to view. Here 
on a chair, as if ready to be shaved, a poor rather 
debauched body reclined. As soon as they are 
identified the bodies are covered and then removed. 
If they are not identified within three days they 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 8 1 

are interred at the public expense. We visited 
the Bourse, or stock exchange. The building has 
been compared with the Temple of Vespasian in 
the Forum at Rome. The inside is surrounded 
by a gallery from which a good view is had of the 
shrieking "bulls and bears" in the vast room be- 
neath. Here it is that fortunes are made and lost. 
Many have gone there light-hearted and have 
come away in despair. Stock gambling in Paris 
and everywhere else should be branded as what it 
really is, a lottery and a crime. 

Between the Jardin des Tuileries and the Champs 
Klysees is the famous Place de la Concorde. 
It is the finest square in any city in Europe, if not 
in the world. "In the centre stands the Obelisk 
of Luxor, a monolith of red granite, 72 feet high, 
brought from the ruins of Thebes, and erected in 
1836. It is a sister of Cleopatra's Needle, and was 
presented to the French Government by Mehemet 
AH ; the cost of bringing it from Egypt was two 
million francs. A person standing close to the 
Obelisk can see the Arc de Triomphe, the Made- 
leine, the Louvre, the Chambre des Deputes, and 
other public buildings. On the north and south 
sides are fine fountains, adorned with tritons, nere- 
ides, and various allegorical statues ; one of the 
6 



82 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

fountains represents River Navigation and the 
other Sea Navigation. The actual Place is bounded 
by eight colossal statues typical of the chief towns 
of France, namely: Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, 
Nantes, Rouen, Brest, Lille, and Strasburg. The 
last-named town was lost to France in 1870, but 
the statue is cherished and visited on National 
Fete Day by crowdsof Alsatian-Lorraines, w^ho lit- 
erally cover it with immortelles to the memory of 
those who fell in the great battles fought in the 
annexed provinces." * 

In this square morQ blood has been shed and 
more awful scenes have been enacted than upon, 
any piece of ground of its size in the world. When 
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. were married, 
they discharged fireworks on this great square, 
when a panic ensued, in which no less than 1000 
persons were killed, and many more were injured. 
Here began the conflict between royalty and the 
people which resulted in the destruction of the 
Bastile. Here nearly 3000 people in less than a 
year and a half were beheaded. Among them 
were the King and Marie Antoinette, Charlotte 
Corday, >Danton, Robespierre, and others who 
were great in '' that strange spell, a name." Some 

* Official Guide. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 83 

of them were good and innocent. At night the 
myriads of gas-lights give the whole scene a splen- 
dor which must be seen to be appreciated. The 
great revolving light in the Eiffel tower, beheld 
from this square, looks like a beautiful ever chang- 
ing star as it flashes in contrast, and far down the 
brilliant scene in the square. I can not in this 
little volume speak of Paris churches, clubs, col- 
umns and conservatories, of its fortifications, its 
fountains, its fine houses, homes, hotels, its mark- 
ets, its museums, its towers and its people. Suf- 
fice to say it has every splendor and beauty to make 
it merit its name, "Beautiful Paris." It has con- 
veniences for rich and poor as no other city has; 
but then it has its hideous vices and its many 
crimes to justly entitle it to the opproprious name 
of "Wicked Paris." 

Everybody who visits Paris should also see Ver- 
sailles. The drive to this historic town is very 
pretty. The road passes by the Mongso Park, 
which in the spring and summer is very beautiful. 
Further on the tourist passes the little historic 
town of St. Cloud where Marie Antoinette once re- 
sided, and in later years, was the home of Napol- 
eon First. During the Franco- Prussian war the 
French themselves destroyed the palace. 



84 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

It was a wet, cold morning in April when I 
wished to go to Versailles, so to save time and 
avoid the rain I took the train at Saint-Lazare. 
We rode on top of the cars, which are especially 
arranged for the conveninence of tourists. 

Versailles was once a city of one hundred and 
fifty thousand or more people; now the population 
does not reach one-third that number. The streets 
are beautifully laid out with mathematical precis- 
ion. The principal and only real attraction is the 
joyal palace. 

The palace is built in a hollow square, with the 
side toward the city open. Here is the court- 
yard, adorned with sixteen statutes taken from the 
bridge La Co7icorde in Paris. They represent six- 
teen of France's great warriors. The palace it- 
self was originally a hunting lodge. It is said a 
mill was here located, and that Louis XIII. took 
refuge in it during a shower of rain. He was 
pleased with the location so he built a hunter's 
lodge. Louis XIV. determined to make it the 
most beautiful royal residence in the world. After 
working upon it twelve years, and expending 
$200,000,000 upon it, the monarch moved into it 
in 1670. He lived in it forty-five years. In one 
of the rooms the old king used to sit by the win- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 85 

dow, and when a carriage of state entered con- 
taining any one the monarch did not wish to see, 
he would hide in a closet near by. Here he would 
conceal himself to listen to what his courtiers said 
of him. I stood by the window where Louis XIV. 
sat when he died. There is a picture in tapestry 
of this monarch in the palace, upon which the 
artist worked fourteen years, and which cost a 
fortune. It was in one of the rooms of this pal- 
ace that Marie Antoinette heard the fiends come 
to drag her to prison. She escaped by a secret 
stairway in her night-clothes (October 5, 1789), 
only to be apprehended a few days afterwards. 
Her Swiss guards, faithful to the end, perished in 
their attempt to defend their mistress. She died 
four years and eleven days after that eventful night, 
on the guillotine. In one of this beautiful queen's 
rooms is a mirror which when one stands in a cer- 
tain position, shows the body without a head. It 
is said as soon as the queen saw this mirror she 
said it was a prophecy of the death she would 
eventually die. The room in which Peter the 
Great slept in 1777 is very prettily furnished, the 
bed on which he reposed is still to be seen. 
After the death of Louis 'XVI., this grand palace 
remained unoccupied for many years. Louis 



86 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

Philippe converted it into a vast museum of all 
"the glories^' of France. There are whole acres 
of canvas in the many rooms, some of the paint- 
ings having been specially made for the place. In 
the historical museum there are eleven rooms filled 
with paintings, illustrating the history of France 
from the year 511 to Louis XIV. in 1700. Besides 
these there are many rooms illustrating the more 
modern history of France, and besides these there 
are ten rooms illustrating chiefly the military glories 
of Napoleon and the First Empire. Then, too, 
there is the Galerie de V Empire^ consisting of 
fourteen rooms, illustrating the campaigns from 
the year 1796 to 1810. Besides all these, there are 
rooms filled with portraits. 

The chapel in the palace is the place where roy- 
alty worshiped. It is very pretty. Its organ is 
one of the finest in Europe. In this chapel Louis 
XVI. and Marie Antoinette were married. The fres- 
coing on the ceiling is very fine. An angel's limb 
is so frescoed that it seems pending. The decep- 
tion is complete. The theatre, once the place 
where wealth and beauty assembled, is seldom 
used now. It was here the Garde du Corps as- 
sembled at the memorable banquet of 1789. Here, 
too, the Queen of England banqueted August 25, 
1855. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 87 

The grounds surrounding the palace are in keep- 
ing with the magnificence within. There are 
beautiful fountains, artificial lakes, and serpentine 
walks. 

There are three principal divisions of the Gar- 
dens — the Parterre d'Eau, facing the centre of the 
Palace, the Parterre du Nord, facing the north 
wing, and the Parterre du Midi, facing the south 
wing of the Palace. The Parterre d'Eau possesses 
two basins, with fountains rising in the form of a 
basket. Twenty-four bronze statues surround 
these, typifying the chief rivers of France, and 
eight statues of water-nymphs and eight groups of 
children complete the environment. The terrace 
is flanked by two grand fountains, the Fontaine de 
Diane, on the right, the Fontaine du Point Jour, 
on the left ; they are adorned with groups of 
animals fighting. 

The traveler, in passing from Paris to Marseilles, 
has a view of the country which in many places is 
of interest, but there is nothing striking about it, 
so as to make a description of the rural scenery of 
special importance. A little more than half way 
between Paris and Marseilles is I^yons. It is situ- 
ated at the junction of the Saone and Rhone, and 
is the largest manufacturing city in France. Many 



88 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. 

of the houses in the older part of the city are seven 
to nine stories high. Where the streets are narrow 
and crooked, the light of day has difficulty in find- 
ing its way to the ground between these high 
buildings. There are, however, some very fine 
streets with beautiful houses in the city. There 
are over fifty squares in the town. A few of them 
are very fine. Lyons produces the finest silks in 
the world. There are manufactories of cotton and 
woolen goods, hats, chemicals, drugs, liquors and 
earthenware. Next to Paris, it excels all other 
European cities in the manufacture of sham jew- 
elry. It has fine quays at the junctions of the two 
rivers. 

There are few buildings worthy of note in this 
city. The Hotel de Ville or City Hall is finer than 
that in Paris. The opera house and Palais St. 
Pierre, once a convent, now an institute for science 
and literature, and museum of sculpture, archaeol- 
ogy and natural history, are on the great square 
called the Terreaux. The Cathedral, Notre Dame 
de Fourvieres, dates its beginning to the ninth cen- 
tury. It is called de Fourvieres because it is said 
to stand on the site of an old Roman forum. It 
has a figure of the Virgin on the top of the tower, 
400 feet above the street below. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 89 

The distance from Lyons to Marseilles is 175 
miles. This is the great seaport of France. Upon 
its streets may be seen people from every part of 
the world. An extensive trade is carried on by 
this city with all Mediterranean ports. The harbor 
of Marseilles is very fine. The town is protected 
by three fortified islands, having light-houses to 
guide the many vessels which pass between these 
islands on their way to the harbor. Outside of the 
city are the great docks, having warehouses which 
cover nearly a hundred acres. Altogether, the 
harbor of the city has an area of nearly 500 acres 
and over four miles of dockage. In summer-time 
the people seek relief from the oppressive heat in 
boats on the bay. 

Many of the streets of the city are wide, clean, 
and well-paved. Large stone structures, in which 
are the principal business places, line these thor- 
oughfares. When I was in Marseilles, the streets 
were decorated with flags and buntings and greens 
in honor of the newly-elected President, who was 
then on a tour through the principal cities of 
France. The holiday attire and the grand proces- 
sions may have enhanced the beauty of the city, 
but notwithstanding, Marseilles is a pretty town at 
all times. 



90 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Of course Marseilles has a Cathedral. It stands 
where the Massilian citadel stood when it was be- 
sieged by Caesar. Before the citadel occupied the 
place, a temple of Diana was there ; and before 
that, an altar dedicated to Baal. Near the port is 
the Bourse, with a Corinthian portico. The in- 
terior is very handsome, and is conceded to be finer 
than the Bourse at Paris. The Chamber of Com- 
merce is decorated with paintings and gildings. 
It is the finest room in the building. The Palace 
of Arts was built about twenty years ago. It has 
two wings and three towers. The centre tower is 
the largest, and beautifully ornamented with stat- 
uary. Immediately below this tower is a fountain 
from which the water spouts high into the air. 
On account of the rain, which fell in great torrents 
when we were in this beautiful seaport, our sight- 
seeing was cut short. It was the first European 
city we saw after returning from Palestine. There 
were few Arabs to be seen — most of the few we had 
brought with us as steerage passengers on the 
^'Gerunda." To be among Europeans, and not to 
see everywhere a crowd of turbaned, half-naked 
men, pushing and. jostling each other, and calling 
for backsheash^ was in itself a relief. We could ap- 
preciate our brief stay in Marseilles, notwithstand- 
ing the rain. 




MII,AN CATHKDRAr,. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Milan, Age — Cathedral — Spire — Nail of "True Cross" — Tomb 
of Borromeo — St. Ambrose — The "Brazen Serpent" — The 
Last Supper, by Da Vinci — Other Buildings — Florence — 
Scenery on Way, etc. — Pitti Palace and Palace Vecchio — 
Duomo — Campanile — Santa Croce — Amerigo Vespucci. 

Milan is an ancient city. It was old already 
when Christ was born. In the twelfth century, 
Frederic Barbarossa nearly entirely destroyed it, 
but it was soon rebuilt. It has been besieged 
many times in the centuries which have elapsed 
since its foundations were laid. In 1576, it was 
desolated by the plague. It has recovered from all 
its misfortunes, and to-day it is the cleanest and 
most prosperous city in Italy. Some streets are 
narrow and winding, but they are well paved and 
clean. 

The great centre of attraction in Milan is the 
Cathedral. It was begun in 1387, and is unfinished 
to this day. In fret-work, carving and statuary, 
it is said to excel all other churches in the world. 
It is the second largest church in Europe. The 
inside measurements are 477 feet by 183 feet. The 

(91) 



92 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

tower rises to the height of 360 feet. We ascended 
to the roof before breakfast. We went up by 200 
marble steps. It is quite an undertaking before 
the morning meal. From the roof we had a grand 
view of the city and the distant mountains. From 
the tower the view is superb. On the roof the 
tourist is surrounded by a world of beauty. It is 
adorned with ninety Gothic turrets. Mont Blanc 
and Monte Rosa can be distinctly seen, whilst far 
beyond them towers the Matterhorn with its ice- 
covered summits, like peaks of silver in the 
morning sunlight. The exterior of the building 
is white marble. In the niches and on the pin- 
nacle there is room for 4500 statues, of which 
about 3500 are in position. Nearly everybody 
who is of any note in the Bible or in Italian and 
Christian history has a statue on this cathedral. 
The wealth of beauty is perfectly bewildering. 
The whole exterior in fact is so vast, yet so deli- 
cate and beautiful is the work, that one feels that 
it is too nice to be out of doors. Within, the floor 
is in mosaic of red, blue and white marble. Fifty- 
two pillars, eighty feet high, support the roof. In 
the nave, marked by a light which glistens like a 
diamond far above the floor, the visitor is shown 
*'a nail of the true cross.'' 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 93 

More wonderful than this is the tomb of St. 
Carlo Borromeo, in a crypt beneath the hig^h altar. 
The body reposes in a marble tomb, the whole front 
of which is moved by machinery. Inside the 
marble is a glass case which contains the body. 
It is shrunken by age, but the features are well 
preserved. Jewels and precious stones of every 
description, to the value of more than a million 
dollars, have been heaped upon the corpse by those 
who have come here to worship from every part of 
the world. As I gazed upon this wealth I could 
not help thinking that if he were able, the man 
who in his life had given his personal fortune and 
even the works of art and the ornaments of his 
palace for the relief of the poor, would certainly 
not tolerate this idolatry. He would speedily turn 
the useless wealth on his ashes into bread for those 
who go hungry under the very shadow of the 
cathedral towers. 

The traveler is loth to leave the interior of this 
majestic building. The fifty- two marble pillars 
which support the roof are ninety feet in height. 
Its noble and costly altars, its grand old Gothic 
arches, its matchless stained-glass windows, its his- 
toric tombs, and even its worn floors, impress the 
soul and fill it with indescribable emotions. 



94 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Another quite remarkable church in Milan is 
that of St. Ambrose. It is buik on the site of an 
ancient temple dedicated to Bacchus. The doors 
are covered with chiseled bronze, which was on the 
doors through which Theodosius wished to pass 
(in the fourth century) after he returned from the 
massacre at Thessalonica. St. Ambrose, whose 
name the church bears, was born at Treves in 
Gaul, in A. D. 340, and died here in 397. He is 
interred in this church. Here he preached, and in 
this city he labored until the Master took him from 
the Church militant to the Church triumphant. 
The pulpit from which he used to preach is still 
shown here. So also are some of the letters 
penned by his hand. There is an illuminated MS. 
of the Te laudamiis written for him. In this 
church the tomb of Pepin, father of Charlemagne, 
is located. There are frescoes on the wall of the 
second and third centuries. The visitor is shown 
a column surmounted by a serpent said to be the 
"brazen serpent" which Moses raised in the wil- 
derness. It cannot speak for itself, and there is no 
mark upon it to establish its identity, so I cannot 
say whether the legend with regard to it is true or 
not. It certainly is very old. The refectory of the 
ancient Dominican convent, now the church of 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 95 

Santa Maria delle Grazie, contains the celebrated 
fresco of the " I^ast Supper," by Leonardo da Vinci. 
Although blackened by age and defaced by those 
who knew not how to appreciate it, it still shows 
the inspiration and skill of the master hand that 
placed it there. It alone is worth a visit to Milan. 
It is said Milan has charities which possess up- 
wards of $40,000,000 of property. There is a 
hospital here founded in the fifteenth century 
which is nearly 1000 feet long and 360 feet in 
depth. The treasury, the palace of justice, the 
palace of science, the mint, and the public loan 
bank, are all fine buildings. The railroad depots 
here, as in other Italian cities, contain fine fres- 
coes. There are also fine stores in Milan. The 
"Galleria Vittorio Emanuele" is the great centre 
around which whole armies of shoppers, both from 
the city and from other places, hover entranced, I 
may say, by the pretty wares of every description. 
It is an immense arcade; the roof is glass, and at 
one place, 180 feet above the marble floor. The 
building is lighted by a myriad of gas-jets, giving 
the whole an appearance of brilliancy, wealth and 
gayety which must be seen to be appreciated. The 
people of Milan are the finest and most polite in 
all Italy. 



96 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

From Milan we took the noon train for Florence. 
It is 216 miles by rail from Milan to Florence. In 
Switzerland we were in a climate as cold as at 
home ; now it is warm as May. The trees are in 
blossom, although it is the 27th of February. The 
country south of Milan is beautiful and very fer- 
tile. Every foot is historical, some of the most 
momentous events in Roman history having trans- 
pired here. We cross high, long bridges, but 
there is no water. The channel is dry. When 
the snows on the mountains melt, these dry chan- 
nels are filled to overflowing. The buildings in 
the country and the small towns, look, as they 
really are, very old. The cattle in the fields are 
large and in good condition. The carriage roads 
here, as elsewhere in Europe, are nicely graded 
and in good repair. Several hours before we 
arrive in Florence we cross the Apennines. The 
scenery is not near so grand as in the Alps, al- 
though there are some very pretty views. Tun- 
nels are numerous and built of the most enduring 
masonry. 

It was some time after the shadows of night had 
enveloped the quiet valleys when we arrived at 
Florence. After a ten o'clock dinner we took a 
little stroll and then retired. We stop at the hotel 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 97 

Washington. The Arno flows on the other side of 
the street. The outlook is pretty in the extreme. 
Many of the hotels in Italian cities are old palaces 
once inhabited by princes. We had arisen early, 
and after a breakfast of eggs, rolls and chocolate, 
we went sight-seeing. The chief beauty of Flor- 
ence is not in fine buildings, although some are 
very grand ; it lies in her priceless treasures of art. 
The principal depositories of art are the Pitti Pal- 
ace and the Palace Vecchio, the old capital of the 
republic and afterwards the home of Cosmo. It is 
public property now. The foundations of the 
building were laid two centuries before America 
was discovered. The Pitti Palace contains the 
finest paintings in Europe. Here are the original 
masterpieces from which copies and chromos are 
made and sent through the world. They are the 
works of Michael Angelo, Murillo, Rubens, and 
other masters. The Pitti Palace and Palace Vec- 
chio are connected by a bridge over the Arno. 
This is in itself a storehouse of art. Among the 
statues in the room called the Tribune in the 
Uffizi Gallery, are the Dancing Faun, the famous 
Venus de Medici, seventeen centuries old. Another 
room contains jewels valued at $20,000,000. The 
most beautiful ware of rock crystal adorns the cases. 
7 



98 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Ill another room is a table of Florentine mosaics 
valued at $150,000. It took fourteen people 
twenty-five years to make it. There is another in 
another room which cost $200,000, and fifteen 
years were consumed in its manufacture. 

As I looked on these treasures I could not help 
thinking of those who once called them their own. 
Where are the spirits of those who once feasted, 
their eyes upon these gems, and the hands that 
once held these costly wares? Here their souls 
were filled with anxieties and fears of which we 
can form no estimate. Once the beauty of their 
bodies was enhanced by these glittering gems. 
Do crowns imperishable rest upon their brows in 
the other world? These rooms have much to tell 
us of wealth and beauty, of kings and sceptres. 
We may well say, '^Can wealth give happiness?'^ 
Look round and see. 

What gay distress, what splendid misery, these 
gems and paintings commemorate ! But I have 
not told you half. One gallery has a series of 
busts of Roman emperors. Another has portraits 
of the most famous painters, executed for the most 
part by themselves. To describe all that is con- 
tained in these galleries would require a volume 
larger than this one. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 99 

Florence has 172 churches, not a few of which 
are large and beautiful structures. Of these the 
Duomo or Cathedral is the largest, and in archi- 
tectural grandeur is surpassed only by St. Peter's 
at Rome. It was begun in 1294, and was not 
completed until the middle of the last century. 
Black, red and white marble in variegated figures 
covers the sides. The dome of this church (which 
is the largest in the world) served Michael Angelo 
as a model for St. Peter's. Among the statues in 
the church the unfinished group representing the 
entombment of Christ, by Michael Angelo, is the 
most famous. 

The Campanile or belfry near the Cathedral is 
550 years old, and is an elegant sample of Italian 
Gothic style of architecture. Charles V. used to 
say of this what Napoleon I. said of the tower of 
the Antwerp Cathedral — it deserved to be put be- 
neath a glass case. To my eyes the one at Ant- 
werp far excels the former. In 1604, Ferdinand 
I., grand-duke of Tuscany, began a mausoleum for 
his family. It is not finished yet, but it has 
already cost $17,000,000. It is an octagon ninety- 
four feet in diameter and two hundred feet high, 
and is lined with lapis lazuli, jasper, onyx, and 
other precious stones. The acoustic properties of 



lOO A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

this mausoleum are wonderful. Standing along 
the wall and singing the scale produces the sweet- 
est music, echoed and re-echoed from the sides and 
dome. 

The church of Santa Croce is the Westminster 
Abbey of Florence. It contains the tomb of that 
greatest of painters and sculptors the modern world 
has produced, the immortal Angelo. There too 
tepose the ashes of Galileo, the great astronomer, 
and lyconardo Aretino, the greatest Italian writer 
of the fifteenth century. Here too is the splendid 
monument of Dante, but his ashes are at Ravenna. 
Not far from the banks of the Arno the old home 
of Amerigo Vespucci is still to be seen. Not far 
from the home once owned by the man after whom 
America was named is the old mansion of Dante. 
The houses, although renewed and repaired, show 
the marks of great age. Galileo lived on the hill- 
side from which he could overlook the city and 
sweep the skies with his rude telescope, which dis- 
closed to his astonished gaze the individual, 
sparkling mosaics in that grand pavement of light, 
the Milky Way. 

In this city, close to the Palazzo Vecchio, is the 
fountain of Neptune and Triton, on the very spot 
where in May, 1498, Savonarola was burnt at the 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 10 1 

stake. On that day a fierce mob clamored for 
his death as he was led out from his prison, but 
for two hundred and fifty years afterwards pious 
hands strewed flowers on the spot from which the 
heroic soul went to heaven. "The memory of the 
just is blessed." Every one of the mob is long 
since forgotten, but the name of Savonarola still 
lives. He was one of the torches with which the 
hand of God kindled the light of the Reformation 
in the century following. 

The view from the Michael Angelo's square, in 
the sQUtheast of the city, is very beautiful. One 
sees the mansions nestling on the quiet hillsides 
around it. To the south is Michael Angelo's 
tower from which he looked upon the city which 
delighted to do him honor. 

To the north and west is the city with its houses 
having gray walls and red-tiled roofs. The city 
does not look pretty. It looks old and gray, but 
the view is exceedingly picturesque. The man- 
sions are strongly built. They were erected and first 
nhabited in troublous times, when it was necessary 
that every man's house be his castle. Remains of 
the old Roman wall are still to be seen. Taking it 
all in all, Florence is rich in art and history, beau- 
tiful for situation, and picturesque in appearance. 
We think of the grand old city with pleasure. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Rome, Scenery- on way to — The Corso — Peasants going to 
town — Population and Ruins — The Forum — Arch of Titus — 
Mamertine Prison — Paul in Rome — Capitoline Hill — Tarpeia 
— Nero's Palace and Gardens — Baths — Fountains — Colosseum 
— Anecdote — Pantheon — Catacombs — Churches — St. 
Angelo. 

We left Florence for Rome at 7:15 a. m. We 
made the distance of one hundred and sixl^y-two 
miles in five and one-half hours. For the first 
hundred miles of the journey the scenery is little 
different from what it is at Florence. The country 
is rolling. Old towns and old castles crown the 
summits of the hills. Some of these castles are as 
old as the religion of Christ. 

It was a cold, rough morning, snow was seen on 
the hillsides — a sight rarely witnessed here — but 
the grass looked green. The olive trees were cov- 
ered with minute white blossoms somewhat re- 
sembling our cherry blossoms. Shepherds watch- 
ing their flocks, accompanied by large black dogs, 
could be seen on the hillsides. There are no 
fences. The landmarks are stones and trees and 

( 102 ) 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 103 

ditches. About seventy miles from Rome tHe train 
enters the wooded valley of the Tiber. The road 
runs along the gravel beds formed by the Tiber, 
which here is a mere creek. The small branches 
are cut from the trees and trimmed and arranged 
in large piles near the railroad; here they are 
loaded on cars and sent to Rome. Wood is scarce 
and dear in Italy. Everywhere the hotel keepers 
charge twenty cents for a mere armful, which is 
not sufficient to warm a room for more than an 
hour. As one comes nearer to the Eternal City, 
the soil becomes more fertile. Great herds of 
magnificent cattle are seen in the fields. The val- 
ley is broad, and not unlike our own valleys. One 
sees few vehicles on the roads. Ox-carts are fre- 
quent. Oxen are used in plowing. They seem to 
be real quick in their movements. As you ap- 
proach the city, the ground becomes very marshy. 
The eucalyptus tree is planted in great rows to 
counteract the malarious influence of the marshes. 
The houses, which were not so numerous, are now 
more thickly built in the valley. Soon the dome of 
St. Peter's appears to the right of the swiftly-mov- 
ing train. A few minutes more and the cars sweep 
through the old walls, and we are ere long at the 
railroad depot in the city, great in historic associ- 
ations, great in religion, and great in crime. 



I04 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

Rome at present contains a population of about 
300,000. Twelve years ago it was 285,000. In the 
time of Vespasian (A. D. 9-79) the city contained 
a population of nearly 2,000,000 people, of whom 
-not less than half were slaves, which had been 
brought from every known country. Now there 
are no slaves in Rome, save the slaves of supersti- 
tion. The ancient city was built upon seven hills. 
Three of these, the Aventine, Palatine and Caelian, 
are now desolate. Much of the old city lies beneath 
the new. In some places vineyards occupy the sites 
of ancient palaces. So much has the city changed 
that it is with difficulty that the ancient hills are 
traced. The Tiber still flows through the city, as 
turbid as in the days of Horace. New and beautiful 
bridges are being erected over this ancient stream. 
The channel is being cleaned, and Rome, the eter- 
nal city, seems to be awakening out of her sleep of 
superstition and indolence. The streets of the 
present city are narrow and circuitous. The prin- 
cipal street is the Corso. It is wide, well paved, 
and lined with the finest buildings in the city. 
The crowd here is simply enormous. It is the 
Broadway of Rome. The sidewalks of this street, 
as of all others in Rome, are narrow. The street 
is occupied by pedestrians who dodge about to keep 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 105 

from being run down. The peasants nearly all 
ride in carts. In carts drawn by a horse or donkey 
they bring their produce and their familes. These 
carts make a grotesque appearance when they con- 
tain three to six children together with the father 
and mother. They seem uncomfortably full. At 
every gate of the city there are several soldiers 
who, with long swords, examine the carts laden 
with produce as they come into town from the 
country. The Italian peasant must pay duty on 
many of his farm products. Taxes are heavy, and 
the condition of the peasantry is not an enviable 
one. 

In this city of so many historical sites, such ex- 
tensive ruins, such massive buildings, the traveler 
scarcely knows where to go first. We first visited 
the old city. Every reader of Latin classics knows 
the story of Romulus and Remus. Two wolves 
are still kept in an iron cage at the top of the 
steps leading to the Palatine, in commemoration 
of the legend that the two brothers were suckled 
by a wolf. From the Palatine the visitor looks 
down upon the great Forum. Here once sounded 
the eloquence of the most renowned orators of the 
Roman empire. It was in this Forum that the 
body of Julius Caesar lay when Mark Antony pro- 



I06 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

nounced his funeral oration. The Forum itself is 
twenty-five feet below the level of the present 
street. The site is covered with broken columns, 
the wrecks of its ancient glory. The Forum of 
Trajan, close to that of Augustus, was built at the 
beginning of the second century. This was the 
most magnificent Forum in Rome. Near by is 
Trajan's Column. This is a marble column 147 
feet high and 11 feet in diameter at the base. A 
spiral band surrounds it, filled with illustrations 
carved in marble from Trajan's war. A statue of 
Trajan once surmounted it. Now St. Peter's fig- 
ure stands there, as if watching the bones of the 
emperor beneath. 

At the foot of the Palatine stands the arch of 
Titus, which was erected by him after he returned 
from his conquests in Palestine. The arch con- 
tains a representation in relief of captive Jews, 
and of what Titus found in the precincts of 
Herod's temple at Jerusalem. Though the arch is 
nearly tw^enty centuries old, the representations 
are distinct. From this arch we went to the street 
above, not far from which is a place of the deepest 
interest to all Christians. It is the Mamertine 
prison. Here Paul was confined in a damp cell for 
how long no one knows. There are two chambers, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 107 

one beneath the other. A round hole in the mid- 
dle of the floor leads to the lower chamber. It was 
in this chamber that Jugurtha the Numidian king 
perished of hunger and cold. From the chambers 
a subterranean pass leads into the Forum. Along 
this passage prisoners were taken to judgment. 
There is a spring in the upper cell which tradition 
says sprang from the rocks at the command of 
Peter. There is likewise an impression of the face 
of Peter on the wall, which was made by a Roman 
soldier thrusting the apostle's head against it. It 
is doubtful whether Peter ever was in Rome, so 
that these traditions are without support. That 
Paul was martyred in Rome every one admits. 
For the space of about two years Paul lived, wrote, 
and preached here. The Appii Forum and the 
Three Taverns, were the brethren met Paul as he 
went to Rome, are still known. Three Taverns is 
a place 33 miles southeast of Rome, and 10 miles 
from Appii Forum. On the Via Lata there is a 
small church which is said to occupy the site 
where Paul's *'own hired house" stood, in which 
*'he received all that came unto him." The 
pyramid di Cats Cestio near the gate St. Paolo is 
as it was in the days of the apostle. This was the 
last structure still remainingf which Paul beheld on 



I08 A WINTER JATTNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

his way to execution beyond the walls. Not far 
from the city tradition points out the site where 
Paul was beheaded. The precise spot may not be 
known, but it was without the gate which now 
bears his name that Paul's great heroic soul went 
up to the Master to receive its well-merited reward. 
Though Nero lived in a golden palace, Paul was 
richer than he. Though the wicked tyrant had 
the power to condemn Paul to death, he thereby 
only liberated him from his bonds. 

From the Forum it is not far to the Capitoline 
Hill. This hill was largely covered with public 
edifices when Rome was in the height of her an- 
cient glory. The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus 
was somewhere on this hill. The exact site is not 
known. Here is the Tarpeian rock, named after 
Tarpeia, a Roman maiden, who commanded the 
citadel when the Sabines invaded the city. She 
opened the city on condition that the Sabines 
would give her what they wore on "their left 
arm," meaning their bracelets; but they wore 
their shields there too, so they threw those upon 
her as they passed in at the gate, and crushed her. 
She was buried at the Tarpeian rock. Afterwards 
those condemned to death were hurled from this 
rock. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. IO9 

The palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill is 
one of the most extensive ruins in Rome. Each 
successive emperor raised new buildings, until the 
entire hill was covered. In the eastern part of 
this palace is the saloon of household gods. The 
broken statuary and the beautiful mosaic floors 
proclaim the magnificence and wealth of the place. 
The throne room is 117 feet by 157 feet. The re- 
ception rooms, the dining rooms, and many others, 
the use of which is not known, speak of the glory 
long since departed. Along the edge of the hill 
are the arched rooms in which the slaves had their 
quarters. The pictures in these rooms, together 
with the frescoes in the rooms of Nero's palace, 
are still fresh and pretty. The buildings, gardens 
and pleasure grounds of Nero after the great fire 
(A. D. 64) extended over three of Rome's seven 
hills. It was in these gardens that the tyrant 
burnt as torches innocent men and women. Ves- 
pasian destroyed the greater part of Nero's palace. 
Behind the palace of the emperors, in the valley 
Via de Cerchi^ is the Circus Maximus, the place 
where races, games, etc., were held. It was a vast 
structure, which held 500,000 people. In the 
time of Julius Csesar, it was not so large. It was 
destroyed by Nero's fire, and rebuilt by Trajan. 



no A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

The baths of ancient Rome are interesting. The 
baths of Caracalla had accommodations for 2,300 
bathers at once, whilst those of Diocletian could 
contain 3,000. The baths of Caracalla are beyond 
the city walls. One day a farmer was plowing 
when his plow struck a piece of marble which was 
attached to what seemed a huge block. This inci- 
dent led to an excavation which revealed the Far- 
nesian Bull. The work was continued until the 
baths of Caracalla were laid bare. This vast struc- 
ture furnished steam baths, hot and cold baths. 
Besides the apartments for bathing there were pub- 
lic halls, libraries, porticoes for lounging, and 
places for athletic exercises. The floors are of the 
finest mosaics, which would make splendid relics 
if the guards did not watch so closely. In spite of 
them a Methodist D. D. succeeded in getting a 
pretty mosaic. I was no less fortunate. In this 
place the poet Shelley used|to sit among the ruins 
and write poetry. 

Rome has beautiful fountains which were an 
ornament to public places before the foundations 
of St. Peter's were laid. Whoever drinks of the 
waters of the Fontana di Trevi will come to Rome 
a second time. The Fontana Bernini is very old. 
The waters are brought from a great distance in 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. Ill 

pipes. Everybody who comes to Rome goes to see 
the Colosseum, the most impressive ruin in Eu- 
rope if not in the world. It dates its origin with 
the first century of the Christian era. It is a vast 
structure, elliptical in shape, covering five acres of 
ground. It is nearly one-third of a mile in cir- 
cumference. The outside of the walls is formed of 
huge square blocks of stone; they rise to the height 
of 156 feet. This vast structure was capable of 
seating 87,000 people; at the same time it afforded 
standing room for 15,000 more. The name Colos- 
seum is derived from a colossal statue of Nero, 
which stood in front of it. The building was 
erected by captive Jews. It had no roof; the peo- 
ple found shelter beneath movable canvas. The 
dedicatory services lasted one hundred days, and 
five thousand beasts were slaughtered. The seats 
were raised in tiers. There are four rows. Each 
row has its own means of ingress and egress. It 
could be emptied of its vast multitudes in fifteen 
minutes. I stood where the emperor used to sit. 
Close to him sat the Vestal virgins. In this arena 
trained gladiators fought for the amusement of 
Rome's cruel and bloodthirsty inhabitants. Here 
pious men and women, youths and maidens, of 
whom heathen Rome was not worthy, offered their 



112 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

lives a willing sacrifice for the gospel of Christ. 
St. Ignatius was martyred here. There is one 
pleasing anecdote in the history of this ancient 
building. It is said that a jeweler sold a lady 
brass for gold. She accused him to the emperor, 
who decreed he should be torn in the amphitheatre. 
On the day appointed the jeweler stood pale and 
trembling before the multitude, awaiting the lion. 
Finally a trap-door beneath the sand of the arena 
lifted and a lamb came forth. The lady again 
complained, when the emperor said, "You were 
deceived, and so was he; be satisfied." Some of 
our company visited it by moonlight. The scene is 
impressive. One thinks of the many who here 
listened to the roaring of the wild beasts in the 
dens beneath the arena, knowing that they would 
soon feast upon their life-blood. God grant that 
no more in the history of the world such awful 
scenes may transpire as were witnessed here for 
ages. 

The Pantheon is another monument of ancient 
Rome's greatness. This, as the name implies, 
was dedicated to all the gods. Its walls are twenty 
feet thick, and the portico is over one hundred 
feet wide and forty-two feet deep. Sixteen Corin- 
thian columns of granite, four feet four inches in 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. II 3 

diameter and thirty-nine feet high, support the 
portico. The dome is a grand triumph of ancient 
architecture. The circumference of this dome is 
exactly the same as its height. It is open in the 
center; the opening served as a ventilator and for 
the transmission of light. In the wall are still to 
be seen the niches in which the images of heathen 
gods once stood. The inscription over the portico 
tells the visitor that this magnificent temple was 
built by Agrippa. It is therefore older than the 
Chriltian era. The earthquakes of nineteen cen- 
turies have failed to hurl it to the ground. Pope 
Boniface IV. consecrated it as a Christian church 
more than twelve centuries ago. The ashes of 
Raphael, and those of Victor Emanuel, sleep in 
this wonderful building. 

Everybody has heard of the Catacombs. Most 
people think they were excavated by the early 
Christians. They are really the quarries from 
which the stone was taken for the construction of 
f the magnificent buildings in Ancient Rome. It is 
asserted that some of them are older than the days 
of Romulus. It is said that every one of the seven 
hills is "perforated and honey-combed by passages, 
dark galleries, low corridors, and vaulted halls, 
where the sun never enters.'^ Horace, in speak- 



114 ^ WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

ing of the caverns under the Esquiline hill, says : 
^'This was the common sepulchre of the commoA 
plebeians." Christians and Pagans found tombs in 
these great caverns. That the Christians fled tO' 
these places for safety in times of persecution, is 
not as probable as some assert. These caverns 
were too well known to the enemy to be much of a 
refuge. That the same beautiful emblems and in- 
scriptions are seen in the Catacombs that are so- 
frequent on our own tombs, is certainly true. In 
traversing these damp, black galleries, and relding 
the inscriptions over the different tombs, one sees^ 
that the same sweet hope of a reunion in the better 
land cheered the soul of the Christian, that comforts 
us to-day as we stand at the open grave. The 
words **I am the resurrection and the life" were 
as blessed to the persecuted mourner then as they 
are to us to-day. 

This brief description of Rome would be entirely 
too imperfect did we not say a few words with re- 
gard to the principal churches. In Rome the wor- 
shiper can hear mass every day of the year, and 
hear it in a different church every time. Of all 
the churches not one is dedicated to Christ; only 
one to the Holy Spirit; the Virgin has eighty-seven 
dedicated to her. Of all these churches St. Peter's 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. II5 

is the largest, and in many respects the grandest. 
The first one of which I shall write is the church 
of "All the Angels." This chnrch is famous be- 
cause it contains the pictures which were at first 
in St. Peter's. Close to this church is a column 
erected in honor of the Virgin and her child. The 
church of Maria Maggiore is a fine structure; the 
place for this church was indicated by a miraculous 
fall of snow. The tradition is that here, and no- 
where else, a snow had fallen; it was the place of 
which a pious monk had dreamed the night before 
as being covered by snow. When it was found 
that the dream was verified, the spot was selected. 
The tomb of Pope Pius the Ninth is in this church, 
and a part of the manger in which Christ was born. 
The church of St. John Lateran has porphyry col- 
umns brought from the Nile. In the baptistery of 
this church Constantine the Great was baptized. 
The church of SL Pietro in vmcoli (Peter in chains) 
contains Michael Angelo's famous statue of Moses. 
The figure is in a sitting posture; the long beard 
comes to the waist; the eyes are piercing, the 
muscles are prominent, and the whole figure is so 
life-like that we are not at all surprised that the 
sculptor said to it: "Speak, Moses, speak.'' A 
crack in the right knee is said to have resulted 



Il6 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

from the stroke of Angelo's hammer as he uttered 
the words, "Speak, Moses, speak/' 

The church called "Sanctus Sanctorum '' now 
contains the famous Pilate's Staircase. It consists 
of a flight of twenty-eight marble steps, now cov- 
ered with boards, because they had been so worn 
by worshipers who ascended them on their knees. 
For every prayer said on these steps, the church 
grants ten years' absolution. These are the steps 
Xuther was climbing when the words, "The just 
:shall live by faith," rushed into his soul, and he 
arose at once. There are two marble figures at 
the foot of the stairs called respectively, " Betray* 
est thou the Son of God with a kiss," and, "The 
hour is come." There is also a picture of Christ, 
said to have been begun by St. Luke and finished 
by an angel. 

In the monastery of the Capuchins and its church 
the chief place of interest is the room containing 
the bones of the deceased brethren. The order in 
this monastery had formerly but one grave. The 
last man that, died was put into this, whilst the 
man who had died before him, if it was only a day, 
came out and was placed in position in the room 
containing the bones of all the deceased brethren. 
In this room I saw the bones of men arranged in 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. II 



every conceivable shape. Even the chandeliers, 
with all ornaments and pendants, are bones. It is 
a ghastly place. The custom is now prohibited 
by the government. 

I was to the magnificent church of "St. Paul 
beyond the walls." This church was founded by 
Constantine in honor of Paula, a rich Roman lady. 
It was afterwards dedicated to the Apostle. The 
original church was burnt. The present is a recent 
edifice. On the outside are beautiful pictures in 
mosaics, the ground work of which is gold. Within 
all is magnificence. The medallions of the popes, 
and every pope has one, are not frescoes, but mo- 
saics. The church abounds in alabaster, basalt, 
black and yellow marble, and porphyry. The 
ceilings are in white and gilt stucco, the floors are 
in polished marble. It has four rows of granite 
columns, eighty in all. The high altar is in the 
centre section of the arms of the cross, under a rich 
canopy. It is supported by four alabaster columns. 
Under this altar is the tomb in which it is §aid the 
ashes of the great Apostle repose. A chain said to 
have fettered the hands of Paul at his execution is 
shown here. It is in a cushioned box, and so 
highly venerated that the priest will not touch it 
with bare hands. This church is not finished, but 



Il8 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

it has already cost upwards of I25, 000,000. It is 
used only on special occasions. 

There is but one more of the churches of which 
we can speak. It is that one of which the poet has 
said :— 

"But thou, of temples old or altars uew, 
Standest alone — with nothing like thee, 

What could be 
Of earthly structure in His honor piled 
Of sublimest aspect? Majesty, 
Power, glory, strength, and beauty, all are aisled 
In this eternal ark of worship." 

St. Peter's, standing where it does, has forever 
consecrated the Circus of Nero, where so many 
Christians perished, and where St. Peter is said to 
have been crucified. Some one has said, "Take 
all the colossal beauty and strength and masterly 
proportions of the cathedrals in Europe, and com- 
bine them in one, and you have a conception of St. 
Peter's." Everything is so vast, so majestic, that 
it is only by degrees that the greatness of the work 
steals upon you. The fagade, with its great pillars, 
supports 396 statues. These, together with the 
walls of the church, are blackened by age ; but 
not so the inside of the vast edifice. The Cathe- 
dral is 613^ English feet long, the transept, from 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. II9 

wall to wall, measures 446 }4 feet, the height of the 
nave is 152 >^ feet, the circumference of the pillars 
which support the dome, 253 feet ; the height of 
the dome to the top of the cross, from the pave- 
ment below, is 448 feet. The steps leading up are 
broad, and easy enough to allow a loaded horse to 
ascend. To get an idea of the magnitude of the 
dome, we must go beneath and look up into the 
almost limitless space. As we look around, we see 
the immense size of everything. Two cherubs, 
apparently mere babes in size, hold a basin of holy 
water. We approach, and find that the limb is 
thicker than the trunk of a man. John the Reve- 
lator, in the ceiling, is writing with a pen (or quill) 
six feet long, but it seems scarce six inches. The 
paintings are all in mosaics. The altars, arches, 
columns, corridors, railings, and walls, glitter with 
gold. The high altar, underneath which St. Peter 
is said to be buried, is almost beyond description. 
Near the altar is a statue of the Saint in bronze, 
seated on a marble chair. Here is the toe which 
every loyal Roman Catholic kisses. It is worn 
away, not by the kisses, but by the constant wip- 
ing which everybody does before his kiss is im- 
pressed upon the great toe. There is a chair be- 
hind the pulpit of St. Peter, upon which is written, 



I20 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

** There is but one God, and Mahomet is his 
prophet." This chair is a trophy from the Orient. 

St. Peter's is historical. Amid the Christmas 
festivities one thousand and eighty-nine years ago 
Charlemagne was crowned here by Pope L^eo III. 
The place where the ceremony took place is still 
seen. One hundred and thirty-two popes are 
buried here. One could tarry here for weeks and 
listen to the worship which goes on night and day 
incessantly. St. Peter's cost $65,000,000. Every 
year nearly $41,000 are expended in its mainte- 
nance. There is quite a village of workmen's 
houses on the roof. 

The Vatican is the pope's home. It is the most 
magnificent palace in Rome, ii not in the world. 
The bishop of Rome in the fifth century had his 
house on this spot. We first went to the Sistine 
chapel, in which Michael Angelo achieved most of 
his deathless reputation. His work is now old and 
faded, but still glorious. The painting of the Last 
Judgment occupied him seven years. We visited 
the different rooms in the Vatican, and gazed like 
boys at a fair, in wonder and awe, upon its rich 
treasures of art. More than seventy thousand 
pieces of statuary have been taken from the ruins 
of temples and palaces in Rome. Very many have 




ST. p£;tkr's bridge; and casti^e: of st. ange;i,o. ^*se 121 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 121 

been gathered in this building. Here, too, are 
paintings from the celebrated artists of ancient and 
modern days. We went through the greater part 
of the pope's library; we also enjoyed a view of 
the gardens in which he walks. The largest piece 
of malachite ever found is in the Vatican. It was 
presented by the Czar of Russia. We were in the 
room where the young Prince Napoleon received 
the pope's benediction before he went to Africa, 
from whence he never returned. The pope's state 
carriage is a mediaeval-looking affair, rich in gold. 
Notwithstanding all this wealth and glory, 

"State for state with all attendant, 
Who would change ? Not I." 

In passing back to the hotel, we go by the tower 
of St. Angelo, the citadel, the centre of which was 
the mausoleum of Hadrian. The castle is of little 
account as a fortress, and is used as a state prison. 
This was our last visit to any place of interest in 
Rome. Wherever we went to places of interest 
subsequently, and wherever we shall yet go, we 
cannot say to our souls, 

" Omitte mirari beatae 
Fumum et opes strepitum que Romae."* 

* " Cease to admire the smoke, wealth, and noise of Rome." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Napi^ES— Location — Relics of Antiquity — Churches — The Peo- 
ple — Macaroni — Funeral — Pompkii — How to Get There — 
History — Pavement — Ruins and Population — Bodies Found 
— Progress in Arts — Cafe of Diomede — On Board " Ortigia " 
— Sicily — Buildings — Sailing on Mediterranean — In Africa. 

Naplks is the largest and most beautiful city in 
Italy. Here it is said the sun shines his brightest 
and flowers bloom loveliest. Naples, like most 
Italian cities, is very old. Its origin is lost in the 
mists of many years before the Christian era. It 
is generally supposed to have been a Greek city. 
The name is said to be Greek (Neapolis), signify- 
ing "new city," in contradistinction from Palae- 
opolis, the older part of the city. Palseopolis is 
mentioned in history for having engaged in a war 
with Rome 330 B. C. 

The city has a few relics of antiquity. Foremost 
among them are the temple of Castor and Pollux, 
the Julian Aqueduct, and the Catacombs, which 
are more extensive than those of Rome. The 
only entrance to them is through the church San 
Gennaro. They were used by the early Christians 

(122) 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 23 

as places for worship and sepulture. St. Januarius 
(272-305), is buried here. A great many victims 
of the plague in the middle of the 17th century 
were heaped into these tombs. There are more 
than three hundred churches in Naples. The 
most interesting place, and the one most frequented 
by visitors, is the Museum. It contains a fine col- 
lection of curiosities and relics illustrating every 
department of life in Herculaneum and Pompeii. 
Far more interesting than all things ancient are 
the people of Naples themselves. They are the 
largest crowd of uncombed and unwashed, ragged 
and filthy people, I ever saw in Europe. The 
streets are filthy, and the sidewalks are narrow and • 
crowded by men, women and children, buying and 
selling, sewing and gossiping, playing and quar- 
reling. Along the road to the city we saw men 
working in stone quarries. They loosened great 
masses of rock, which their wives and daughters 
carried out of the quarries on their heads. One 
can see scores of women coming into the city to 
market with a good one-horse load on their heads. 
The better-to-do have donkeys hitched to carts or 
loaded with great baskets made of straw, filled with 
oranges, lemons, peppers; onions, cauliflower, etc. 
On top of these poor creatures, sprawled over the 



124 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

load, is a woman and child or a lazy man. Naples 
is the place where they make macaroni. The 
dish is quite popular, as every one knows, in Amer* 
ica. I never did like it, now I abhor it. Along 
the street, especially along the road to Pompeii, 
one can see long yellow strings where dust and 
flies are thick. These have been prepared and put 
there by greasy, dirty-looking men, almost naked* 
In this country people have strong stomachs. It 
takes a good-sized cholera to upset them. There 
are some fine hotels, where the cooking is good^ 
but I am speaking of the masses. With them a 
dish of beans and rancid bacon is a luxury* They 
have a dish called Pizza, made of dough, garlic, 
rotten cheese, and stale bacon. This they esteetti 
a feast. 

We took a drive along the hill overlooking the 
bay. We could see Vesuvius in the distance, whilst 
the city itself was at our feet. Above us the hill* 
side was richly decorated by the most choice flow- 
ers, filling the air with their sweet perfume. I 
could not appreciate the meaning of the phrase, 
**See Naples and die,"* until I had taken this ride 

* "See Naples and die," no doubt, originates in ** See Naples'* 
and a town below, the name of which is the Italian word fof 
"die." 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 25 

up the terraces overlooking the bay. In this ride 
we met a funeral. The hearse and coffin were lit- 
erally covered with flowers. Pretty young girls, 
dressed in white, marched next to the hearse, sing- 
ing a mournful tune, and bearing long tapers in 
their hands. They were followed by a long line 
of carriages. Everybody uncovers his head in 
Italy when he passes a funeral. Sometimes a band 
of music accompanies the funeral train. These 
people try to cover their poverty, and even the 
horrors of death and the grave itself, by an inborn 
joyousness. 

Everybody who comes to Naples also goes to 
Pompeii. There are two ways to go to the exca- 
vated city — by the railroad, or by taking a coach 
in Naples. The traveler who wishes to save time 
goes by rail. The country through which the train 
passes is not pretty. The houses wear an air of 
poverty and neglect, which proves the inhabitants 
neither thrifty nor industrious. The dwelling- 
houses look more like forts than homes. They are 
mere stone walls, with roofs of tile, or stones and 
earth. 

On arriving at Pompeii, the visitor pays a fee of 
forty cents; then he can go where he pleases, see- 
ing the ruins, always followed by a guard, who 
sees that nothing valuable is taken. 



126 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Pompeii was destroyed by an eruption of Vesu- 
vius on August 24, A. D. 79. For many years it 
lay buried, undiscovered and almost forgotten. In 
1748 statues and other objects were exhumed in the 
digging of a well. Charles III. of Naples ordered 
extensive excavations seven years afterwards, and 
the amphitheater, capable of seating 10,000 specta- 
tors, was entirely uncovered. From that time ex- 
cavation has slowly progressed, until now about 
half the city is uncovered. It had been a summer 
resort, with a population variously estimated at 
2,000 to 20,000, and even fifty thousand. To this 
place the voluptuous Nero and other beastly Ro- 
mans came for recreation and debauchery. There 
is full evidence among the ruins that they had 
abundant opportunity. By the earthquake the 
river Sarno was diverted from its course, and the 
sea, which washed the sands to the walls of the 
city, is now more than a mile from its excavated 
ruins. 

Within the city walls, the first object which 
attracts attention is the stone pavement, consist- 
ing of square blocks of stone measuring about a 
foot. These stones have deep troughs worn into 
them by the chariot wheels of the ancient Romans. 
The stone is hard, but the streets are so narrow 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 127 

that the wheels always Jwent in one place, hence 
the ruts. I do not know how the chariots passed 
each other; I suppose they went up some streets 
and down others, thus avoiding the difficulty of 
passing. 

Some of the ruins are very extensive, proving 
that the population must have been more than 
2000. The amphitheatre has already been men- 
tioned. The theatre had accommodations for 5000 
people. The temples of Fortune, of Isis, and of 
Neptune, were fine large places. The barracks of 
troops or gladiators were found located near the 
great theatre. Sixty-four skeletons were found 
here. It is supposed they were the guards who 
remained faithful unto death. Comparatively few 
skeletons are found, thus proving that the inhabi- 
tants had warning of their impending doom. In 
the museum, a small building near the gate, there 
is the form of a fat man with arms crossed. Here 
is a maiden with her clothing gathered under her 
arms, as if for flight from fire. A woman and child 
were found close together in death. The limbs of 
some are contorted, as if they had died in agony. 

Pompeii, the exhumed city, gives the modern 
world a splendid idea of the domestic economy, the 
social life, and the arts and sciences of the ancient 



128 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

world. There is a house here which evidently was 
that of a wine merchant. There are earthen jars 
in it holding a barrel, whilst some hold no more 
than a quart. There are locks, beds, stoves, and 
cooking utensils, showing that the people possessed 
some of the conveniences and comforts of modern 
life. They had sliding doors, such as we have in 
our own parlors and larger apartments to-day. 
They had cut glass, and. silver spoons of what we 
call the latest style, beautifully ornamented. The 
word "Welcome," cut in stone, adorned the door 
steps. Some of the floors are in beautiful mosaics 
of the finest marble. A room in the house of Dio- 
mede, evidently the bed-chamber of a maiden, has 
the representation of a dove picking jewels out 
of a casket. The whole is in mosaic of white and 
colored marbles. There was a fountain in the open 
court on which opened the various apartments. 
There are frescoes in an excellent state of preserva- 
tion in red and yellow. The names of the pro- 
prietors of shops and residents of the homes of 
many have been discovered from seals and inscrip- 
tions found in the houses. Fine statuary and val- 
uable jewels have been excavated. The houses are 
nearly all of stone, one story high. The upper 
stories, it is supposed, were of wood, and speedily 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 29 

consumed. But as these were used for storerooms 
and apartments for servants, little of value has 
perished. 

After our walk, we went to a cafe for refresh- 
ments. This is in a lovely spot, surrounded by 
tropical plants, outside the walls of Pompeii. It 
bears the high sounding and historical name, 
"Diomede.'^ Here we had a good lunch. When 
lunch was nearly finished, two musicians, with 
harp and violin, came in, and among other airs, 
played Yankee Doodle for us. Though the day 
was damp, we went back to Naples well pleased 
with our visit to Pompeii. 

At 5:30 the same evening, we boarded the Ital- 
ian steamer, "Ortigia" for Alexandria. The first 
part of our voyage on the Mediterranean was any- 
thing but pleasant. 

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, 
being a little more than one-quarter as large as our 
State. At the northern end of the island is the 
whirlpool, caused by a current from the Black Sea, 
and called by the ancients "Charybdis." It was 
regarded a monster which twice every day gulped 
down the waters and twice cast them up again. 
Notwithstanding this wonderful proceeding, the 
waters are there to this day to make you seasick. 



130 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

This island is the home of the mighty ^tua, which 
rises in solitary grandeur to the height of over ten 
thousand feet on the eastern coast. The climate 
is delightful. The thermometer scarcely ever rises 
above 92^ Fahrenheit, nor falls below 36°. The 
day we were in the harbor at Messina was warm 
and wet. We bought delicious oranges, fresh from 
the trees. 

Messina rises in the form of an amphitheatre 
from the waters of the strait. The houses are of 
dazzling white, whilst the dark mountains in the 
rear form a lovely background. It has some fine 
buildings, more than fifty churches, a large hos- 
pital, two theatres, a custom house, and other large 
buildings. It is defended by walls, citadels, and 
forts. Ships from every nation are to be seen in 
its beautiful harbor. After leaving Sicily, we had 
very pleasant weather. On Saturday morning (the 
third day out) we sighted the high hills of ^' Crete," 
under which the ship sailed in which Paul was 
being carried a prisoner, and in which he strongly 
advised the captain to winter. 

It was now pleasantly warm. Our boat had a 
very light load, and rolled tremendously, even in 
a calm sea. In the evening, the moon arose in an 
unclouded sky, pouring forth a broad flood of sil- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. I3I 

very light across the sea, which looked like the 
path to the throne of heaven. On Sunday the 
wind blew in squalls, the ship rolled, and many of 
our company were sea-sick. 

"Oh, B., think of our nice home," said a sea- 
sick lady to her husband. Then I thought of my 
nice home, too, and was home-sick. We could not 
have religious services that day. It was too rough 
to stand or sit still long enough to preach or listen. 
At luncheon, the captain said we would land at 
4:30 p. M. Four hours afterwards we were afraid 
we could not land before Monday; but soon after- 
wards the light-house at the entrance to one of the 
finest harbors in the world was sighted, and at 6 
p. M. we were in Alexandria. A happier company 
than we were I never saw, as we stepped on terra 
firma. 



CHAPTER X. 

Alexandria — Pharos — Pilot Boats — Crowd — Hotel "Abbat" — 
History of Alexandria — Pompey's Pillar — Libraries — Chris- 
tianity — Drive — Houre of Antoniades — Square — Population — 
Merchants — Mohammedan women — Donkeys — Scenes on the 
way to Cairo. 

At the close of the last chapter we were too anx- 
ious to get ashore to say anything about the strange 
appearance of Africa along the Mediterranean. 
The coast seems lower than the sea, and has a gray- 
ish appearance. The first object which attracts at- 
tention is the light-house. It was at the entrance 
to this famous harbor, on an island seven stadia 
from the land, that Pharos, a light-house 550 feet 
high, once stood. It was one of the seven wonders 
of the world, having been erected as a monument 
for Ptolemy Philadelphus. The king ordered his 
name to be cut on the pediment, but Sostratus the 
architect first cut his own in the solid marble block, 
and placed over it in stucco that of the king. The 
stucco soon crumbled away, and the name of the 
architect for centuries greeted the eye of the 
beholder. This light could be seen for more than 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 33 

a hundred miles from the shore. Every vestige of 
the Pharos has long since disappeared. 

As we approached the entrance to the harbor, 
we saw queer looking sail-boats. These were 
pilot-boats. In the hood drawn over their swarthy 
heads, they had rather the appearance of pirates, 
than friends to guide us among the rocks at the en- 
trance to the truly magnificent harbor. These fel- 
lows were nude as to the lower portion of their 
bodies, but they were careful to have their heads 
well protected. The pilot did not come on deck 
to the wheel, but kept ahead of the ship with a flag 
in his hand, which he waved now to one side, and 
then to the other, thus indicating the course the 
vessel was to take. 

I will never forget my first sight of the shriek- 
ing, jostling crowd of Arabs on the dock. To see 
them push each other and to hear their hoarse gut- 
tural cries was anything but inviting to us, the new 
arrivals. We had however nothing to fear; our 
company was expected and was met by the genial 
agent, who placed us in barouches, and just as 
night had fallen we were whirled past the custom 
house up one street, then out another, and we were 
at the hotel *' Abbat." This hotel is built in true 
Oriental style. Palms and other tropical plants 



134 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

adorn the open court upon which the rooms of 
guests front. The reading room, smoking and 
coffee rooms, are simply recesses under the bal- 
conies on the one side of the court. Here we re- 
ceived our first Turkish coffee, very strong and 
black, in little cups holding a good large mouthful. 
Before we go out sight-seeing I must tell you 
something of the history of Alexandria. For many 
centuries this city was the great centre of learning, 
wealth and power. Along these streets trium- 
phant armies marched, and helpless captives were 
dragged, many centuries before the greatest modern 
nations had a name. Here the Ptolemies, Cleo- 
patra, and the Caesars reigned. Few land-marks 
of ancient Alexandria remain. There is a beauti- 
ful red granite column, called Pompey's Pillar, 
standing on the spot where in ancient times the 
worship of Osiris was conducted. This is the 
largest monolith in the world. It is one hundred 
feet high. It was erected by Publius in honor of 
Diodetian. The greater part of the ancient city 
lies buried in the sands, and with it are many of 
the famous relics of that once grand civilization. 
Of the obelisks that once stood here only one re- 
mains. One of them is in New York, another in 
I^ondon, and still another in Paris. Pieces of 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 35 

Sphinxes and statuary are to be seen near Pom- 
pey's Pillar. 

The people of ancient Alexandria were highly 
civilized. Books were written here sixteen centu- 
ries before Christ was born. The city had two li- 
braries, the Serapeum and the Soter. The latter 
of these is said to have contained a copy of every 
known work. Had not Caliph Omar destroyed 
this valuable collection of 700,000 MSS. in A. D. 
641, what light would it now shed upon many 
events and characters in history at which we can 
only guess! The destruction of this library was 
one of the most barbarous and unpardonable acts 
ever committed. The Christian Theodosius acted 
equally barbarously when he destroyed the vast 
treasures and exquisite statuary of the Serapeum. 
In this city Alexander the Great was buried in 
splendor, but not a vestige remains to identify the 
spot. In Alexandria the Hebrew Scriptures were 
translated into Greek B. C. 280. At that time 
Greek philosophy and culture were at their height 
in this city. There were Christian churches in 
this place when the Druids were still practicing 
their Pagan rites in England. Here Peter preached, 
and Mark suffered martyrdom. Origen was con- 
verted to Christianity here, after he had vainly 



136 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

endeavored to combat the doctrines of Christ with 
his philosophy. Other famous men in the early 
church, such as Athanasius and Cyril, were edu- 
cated here. Apollos was born in this city. 

Two hundred and fifty years after Christ was 
crucified, the whole of central and upper Egypt 
were Christianized. To this day there are some 
pious God-fearing men and women among the 
Copts, who know and study the New Testament. 
Such in brief was Alexandria before and for five 
centuries after Christ. 

We took a drive through the principal streets of 
the city, and along the canal which brings the 
dirty water and the commerce of central Egypt 
from the Nile. On the banks of the canal we had 
the pleasure of visiting the mansion and grounds 
of Antoniades, a wealthy Greek. The servants 
wore a blue upper garment with white fringe, 
which gave them a neat appearance. The man- 
sion itself is pretty, with its mosaic floors, its 
pictures and tapestries. The grounds are beauti- 
fied by the tropical foliage and tasteful walks. 
When the winter winds howl in the Pennsylvania 
mountains I could reside in this mansion for a 
month or two, but not always would I live there. 

The square of Mehemet Ali, with its fountains, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 37 

its statue of Mehemet AH, its pretty trees and its 
large magnificent buildings, is the finest in Africa. 
One can scarcely realize, as he sees the splendid 
stores, fine-looking people, luxurious hotels, offices 
and equipages, that he is in Africa. There are some 
fine, well-paved, well-lighted and clean streets such 
as are not to be seen in the great metropolis Cairo; 
but then there are narrow, filthy and crooked, 
streets. Alexandria to-day is a great sea-port. The 
finest ships that sail on the Mediterranean come 
here. Like all sea-port towns, it has many haunts 
of vice. As soon as the shadows of night fall these 
are made brilliant with lights and hilarious with 
music. The city is rapidly becoming as populous 
as it was in ancient times. It to-day numbers no 
less than 200,000 people. There are to be seen on 
the streets men and women of every race and na- 
tionality under the sun. Here the traveler for the 
first time sees the turbaned Turk in his little bazaar, 
ever anxious to sell to you, and, if possible, to cheat 
you. These fellows always ask three times what 
they expect to get for an article. A dealer in pre- 
cious stones had a real nice stone for sale. He 
asked twenty-five dollars for it, and was offered five 
dollars, which he at first laughingly refused, but 
after considerable bargaining he accepted it. A 



138 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

few mornings afterwards he saw the purchaser and 
began to weep, saying the stone belonged to a dear 
relative, and that he must have it back or receive 
five dollars additional. The purchaser then offered 
him the stone for half what he had paid, but the 
shrewd seller now went away without saying an- 
other word. When you make a bargain with a 
porter or donkey boy he is never satisfied when you 
pay him. He always wants something additional. 

In this place you see the veiled Mohammedan 
women. As long as a girl is not engaged she 
goes without a veil. When she is engaged she 
wears a white veil. When married she wears a 
long black veil, which she never removes in the 
presence of a man except her husband. These 
fellows are so jealous that they will not allow their 
women, of whom they have as many as they can 
afford, to look at the moon unveiled, lest the man 
in the moon fall in love with them. 

In this city the traveler first sees donkeys and 
donkey boys. For a franc (twenty cents) you 
can ride for an hour or two, as you wish ; but the 
driver expects a backsheesh in addition. These 
donkey boys can trot behind a donkey, pounding 
the little animal and yelling for an hour, without 
the slightest inconvenience. They secure their 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 39 

animals from running away when not engaged by 
tying up one of the front legs. The traveler is 
not long in the Levant before he has great respect 
for the donkey. He seems to have more sense 
than any being about him. ' ' I believe the .poor 
creatures have souls, ' ' said a lady, * ' they seem so 
patient, so gentle." She afterwards changed her 
opinion, after she had been thrown in a mud-hole 
in Jerusalem. As a rule, however, donkeys are 
gentle, meek and very long-suffering! They have 
very queer names, such as Yankee Doodle, Tele- 
graph, Mark Twain, George Washington, etc., etc. 
After having seen all of Alexandria we cared to 
see, we started for Cairo. The cars on the road 
from Alexandria to Cairo are comfortable as any in 
Europe. The country through which we pass is 
level, and irrigated from the Nile by means of 
canals and ditches. The grass is several feet high, 
and the soil seems very fertile. The plain is cov- 
ered with grazing sheep, musk oxen, cows and 
donkeys. Here and there we see the tents of 
Bedouins, pitched in groups, which give the other- 
wise peaceful country a weird appearance. The 
villages are mere mud-houses, one story high, with 
narrow alleys between them. Here and there is a 
little mosque about thirty feet high. It is white 



140 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

with a red stripe at the base of the dome. It is 
getting dark. We see shepherds leading their 
flocks homewards, and we think of the first verse 
in the Elegy : 

**The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea; 
The plowman homeward plods his weary way, 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me." 

A few hours after dark we were in Cairo, the 
largest city of modern Egypt. 



CHAPTER XL 

Cairo — A donkey ride — Mosques — Slippers — Alabaster Mosque 
— Citadel— View — Mamelukes — "Well of Joseph" — Univer- 
sity — Dancing Dervishes — Bazaars — Hotels — The street 
scenes — Backsheesh — Blindness and flies — Missions — The 
Copts. 

Cairo is the largest and most populous city in 
Africa, and is second only to Constantinople in 
the Turkish Empire. It lies on the right bank of 
the Nile, about a mile from the river, and has a 
population of nearly half a million of people. 
The city is seven miles in circumference. The 
houses of the poor are built of mud and sun-dried 
bricks, and are mostly only one story high. Those 
of the richer people are of wood, brick or Mok- 
katam stone from the hills not far distant. The 
streets are mostly narrow ; all of them are illy 
paved, illy lighted, and illy watched. In case of 
a shower of rain, they become exceedingly muddy. 
I shall never forget a donkey ride I took after a 
heavy shower, through some of the principal streets 
of this truly Eastern city. I was covered with a 

black mud from head to foot, and looked very 

(141) 



142 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

much like the poor fellows who sleep on the side- 
walks in Cairo. In such a plight I had not been 
for many a day. 

Everybody who comes to Cairo, goes to see 
some of the principal mosques. There are said to 
be 400 of these in the city; but only a few of them 
are of any note. We visited the mosque of Bl 
Hassan, an old but very commodious structure. 
The building looks very old from the outside, and 
almost worse within. The visitor takes his shoes 
off at the door and puts on miserable slippers, old 
and filthy from Arab feet. There is a large open 
court, in the centre of which is a fountain. In 
this the Arabs wash before worship. To wash is 
a part of their religion. If they do not pray often 
they do not wash often. The mosque of Moham- 
med AH is the finest in the city. It is called "the 
alabaster mosque," because the inside of the 
building is lined with this beautiful stone. The 
courts of the mosque are paved with white marble 
and enclosed with beautiful columns. It has 
costly Turkish carpets on the floor, and hundreds 
of lamps suspended from above. The vaulted 
domes are overlooked by a clock-tower on the 
west. This tower is supported by four great piers, 
and "embraced by four half domes, with four 



A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 143 

smaller domes above the angles." From the 
ramparts of the citadel, the city of Cairo and the 
surrounding country are plainly brought to view. 
"The vastness of the city, as it lies stretched be- 
low, surprises every one. It looks a perfect wilder- 
ness of flat roofs, cupolas, minarets, and palm tops, 
with an open space here and there presenting the 
complete front of a mosque, and gay troops of 
dusky-skinned people, and moving camels. " Im- 
mediately in front are the tombs of the Caliphs. 
In the court of the citadel the Mamelukes were 
slaughtered in 1811, by Mohammed Ali. This 
celebrated cavalry had an immense influence over 
the army and the country. Mohammed Ali 
suspected them of certain intrigues, and deter- 
mined on their extermination. He accomplished 
this by alluring them into the citadel and then 
murdering them in cold blood. Only one, Emin 
Bey, escaped by riding his horse over the dizzy 
heights. 

The "Well of Joseph" as it is called, supplies 
the citadel with water. It is supposed to be the 
work of the ancient Egyptians. It was discovered 
by Saladin. He found it filled with sand. It is 
two hundred and ninety feet deep, and fifteen feet 
in diameter. It is excavated out of the solid rock. 



144 ^ WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

with a spiral stair-case winding around like the 
thread of an auger to the very bottom. This stair- 
case is about ten feet wide, making the entire hole 
in the solid rock about twenty-five feet in diameter. 
"The water is raised by means of earthen jars 
fastened to an endless rope passing over a wheel, 
and kept continually revolving by mules or oxen 
stationed above and below." The jars come up 
full, discharge their contents at the top and descend 
empty. This well is worthy the skill and perse- 
vering labor of ancient Egypt, and is no doubt very 
old. Think of the size of the rock which can af- 
ford such an opening, so deep and so wide, without 
a break ! 

After leaving the citadel we went to the Mosque 
El Azhar and saw the so-called University, which 
is the largest Mohammedan school in the world. 
The building itself is very old, very dilapidated, 
and very dirty. The floors are covered by mats in 
three to five layers, and from all appearance must 
swarm with fleas. The dirty boys and men were 
squatted "Turkish fashion" around their teachers 
in different parts of the vast building. There are 
large chambers and courts in the building, and it 
may be that there are as high as fifteen thousand 
students in attendance, as is asserted by the offi- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 45 

cials. These ' ' students' ' come from every part of 
the Mohammedan world. Their text-book is 
chiefly the Koran, which they transcribe on tin 
slates or tablets with stick and ink. There is 
apparently no order in the school, the students 
coming and going at pleasure. These fellows 
"earn their own living" as a rule whilst at the uni- 
versity. They "board themselves" by spreading 
a thin cake of rice or curry and flour on a flat stone, 
and waiting patiently until the sun dries it. 
Many beg for their board, and a scant fare it proves 
to be. Their "rooms" where they have their 
books, wardrobe, etc., are boxes consisting of 
apartments about a foot square. The whole affair 
is a burlesque on the name "university." 

During my stay in Cairo I went to see the 
"Dancing Dervishes." These are a sort of monk 
among the Mohammedans. They live in a mon- 
astery which has a mosque attached to it. The 
buildings are dried mud and stone. The court 
and garden is a cool place, well kept. The monks 
wear long robes, and the faces of some of them are 
by no means bad-looking. They live chiefly upon 
what they can beg in the city, which, from the 
number of persons engaged in this business in 

Cairo, can not be very much. They also get fees 
10 



146 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

from visitors, which are numerous. Their prin- 
cipal exhibition is given on Friday afternoon, the 
Mohammedan Sabbath. They assemble in the 
old mosque. There were fifteen or twenty of them 
squatted on the floor. Some were quite young, 
and one of them quite aged. There was an intel- 
ligent looking boy among them not more than 
fifteen years old. The man whom I shall call the 
master of ceremonies, began the performance by 
reading an extract from the Koran. The whole 
party now began to nod and grunt, first slowly, 
then more rapidly, until their heads became indis- 
tinct with the rapidity of the motion. Suddenly 
they] stopped, and immediately began to shake 
their heads from side to side. Thus they went 
through many motions, now and then varying the 
performance by singing a doleful air. They ac- 
companied the motion of the body with grunts all 
through the "entertainment." Two of them 
played on a sort of a drum, which was accom- 
panied by a clarionet in the hands of a third of 
their number. At length they arose and began a 
series of motions on their feet. One stepped out 
from among the rest and began a series of revolu- 
tions which made the beholder dizzy. He, strange 
to say, walked back at the end of his gyrations, as 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 147 

steady as when he began. The ceremony lasts 
for three or four hours, and is so silly and yet so 
wonderful that it must be seen to be appreciated. 
Of course I visited the Turkish bazaars, which 
in Cairo are almost infinite in number and variety. 
Every trade has its own quarter. The manufac- 
tories of red slippers occupy several squares. The 
saddlers are also well represented. The jewelers 
and goldsmiths form an interesting group. Their 
wares are very pretty. The Turkish rugs, gold- 
laced jackets for men and women, are very artistic 
and very fine. The bazaars are in narrow streets 
into which the light of the sun can never enter. 
Some of these shops have goods worth thousands 
of dollars in little stalls in which an American 
grocer would hesitate to keep his horse. The 
stalls are old and filthy, and the ^'merchants" ask 
three times the price they expect to receive for 
their goods. The tradesmen are not all Turks 
and Egyptians: many of them are Jews. In these 
black, sombre-looking streets or lanes the weird 
music of the wandering minstrel, the plaintive 
wail of the beggar, the hoarse cry of the water 
carrier as he rattles his brazen drinking cups, 
are strangely interspersed. Besides these bazaars, 
Cairo has some fine stores on the wider and pret- 
tier streets. These are kept by Europeans. 



148 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

The accommodations at the hotels, most of 
which are fine buildings, are very good. Our 
hotel had an open court, with a fountain in the 
centre. At one end were the stone stairs leading 
to the floors above. At one side of the steps was 
the ofiice or "bureau" of information. On the 
other side was the large dining-room, the reading 
and smoking-rooms. The floors, the stairs, the 
walls, the roof, are stone. My room communi- 
cated with a stone balcony, overlooking a fine 
square. The "chambermaids" are not maids at 
all: they are Arabs dressed in white. The stone 
floors are covered with matting, not too clean. 
The beds are of iron, covered with nettings to pro- 
tect the sleeping tourist from mosquitoes, etc. 
There is much of the etc., from which they can- 
not protect. 

The streets of Cairo present a grotesque appear- 
ance, filled as they are with Mohammedan women, 
in their black veils and draperies, white veiled 
girls, half-naked boys with long-eared donkeys, 
turbaned Turks, swarthy Arabs, and easy going 
Caucasians from almost every country under the 
sun. The noise is deafening from the vehicles, 
the braying of donkeys, the hoarse shouts of 
Arabs as they try to gain your attention. The 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 1 49 

mothers march with stately strides whilst their in- 
fants are perched in silent majesty astride the 
mother's shoulder. Now and then the street 
scene is enlivened by the gay uniforms of a squad 
of British soldiers and their merry music. Fre- 
quently a gayly-dressed herald runs in advance of 
the coaches of the pasha and his attendants, so 
as to clear the way for the illustrious procession. 
Of course the water carrier is there, as among the 
bazaars. He cries aqua buono! (good water) but 
more frequently he shouts the Arabic word, moya! 
moya ! 

Here is a fellow with an immense bundle of 
sugar cane on his head, which he has brought to 
town to sell to the hungry street Arab, who lives 
upon this and a coarse cake. The fellow with the 
basket on his head mounted with a curious lamp, 
has the coarse cake or bread first mentioned, which 
he sells cheap enough. If it has been on his head 
long enough, the purchaser has a chance to get a 
little fresh meat with the bread. Many of the 
great throng of half-dressed, greasy and dirty peo- 
ple literally live on the street. At night they lie 
on the sidewalk in great rows, the head of one rest- 
ing on the feet of his neighbor. They cover their 
heads; the rest of the body is not so important. 



150 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

The condition of the poor people is pitiable in the 
extreme. The street scenes of Cairo are ludicrous, 
interesting, and at the same time sad. Men, wo- 
men and children, sit along the road flat down in 
the dirt. They have corn, sugar cane, a little fuel, 
Arab cakes, or something worth very little, for sale. 
They no sooner see you than they cry for back- 
sheesh. They are apparently as well satisfied if you 
give them nothing (that is what we usually gave 
them) as when you give them something. They 
never get enough. 

There are a great many blind people in Egypt. 
One reason for this total and partial blindness is 
because the people think it a sin to chase the flies 
which sit in swarms on. their faces. I have seen 
babies on the shoulders of their mothers literally 
covered with flies. The flies really eat the eyes 
out of the heads of the poor creatures. The ignor- 
ance, filth and superstition of these people is appal- 
ling. 

The United Presbyterian Church has a pros- 
perous mission in Cairo. It occupies a fine large 
building in the central part of the city. The 
building contains a chapel, a school-room, and 
living rooms for the missionaries and their fami- 
■ lies. An English service is held every Sabbath. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 151 

I attended prayer-meeting on Thursday evening of 
my stay in Cairo. We had an interesting meeting 
held in the parlor of the mission buildings. The 
audience was composed of Americans, English 
soldiers, and Arabs. There is quite a contrast 
between the children who attend the mission 
school and those who run on the street. 

The Copts are the most interesting and most 
civilized people of Egypt. They do not speak the 
Arabic language; but they have a language which 
is said to approach, nearer than any other, the lan- 
guage of the Ancient Egyptians. It has greatly 
aided in interpreting the monumental inscriptions. 
The Copts are nominal Christians. They follow 
the Jacobites in believing that the human and 
divine natures in Christ constituted one nature, 
and one will. Their marriage ceremonies are 
lengthly and elaborate. The bride and groom 
are crowned, and the bride steps over the blood of 
a slain lamb at the door of her new home. The 
Coptic population numbers about 250,000. They 
are presided over by»a patriarch, who resides in 
Cairo. 

We made Cairo the centre from which we took 
various trips into the country, and villages around 
the city. These trips, and what we saw, will be 



152 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

described in the following chapter. Cairo itself 
contains, as everybody knows, no antiquities. The 
city was founded about A. D., 970, and •is there- 
fore not as old as many cities in Kurope. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Boui^AK Museum — Arab Market — Old Statue — Raphsapha — 
Jewelry — Mummies of the Pharaohs— Value of these discov- 
eries — Road to Great Pyramid — Arabs and recommendations 
— Sphinx — Size — Ascent of Cheops — Scenery — Dimensions 
— Chamber in the Pyramid — Who built Cheops ? 

Memphis — Nilometer — Antiquity of Memphis — Arab village 
and Arab farming — Statues of Rameses II — Necropolis of 
Egypt — Mummies of "first born" — Oldest monument — Sera- 
peum — Tomb of Tih — Frescoes — Way home. 

It was a bright spring-like morning in early 
March, when our party started for the Boulak 
Museum and the Pyramids of Gizeh. The geo- 
graphy of my boyhood contained a picture of the 
largest of these and the Sphinx. I always gazed 
on this picture with a sort of awe. This feeling 
was deepened when I caught my first glimpse of 
the pyramids, immediately after we left Cairo. I 
said to one of my companions in the barouche, 
' ' There are the pyramids !' ' ' ' Oh, ' ' said he, ' ' these 
are too close to Cairo to be the pyramids of Gizeh." 
I could only reply, "Wait and see." 

In going to the pyramids the tourist crosses the 
Nile over a splendid iron bridge. There is a 

(153) 



154 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

market place immediately beyond the bridge. 
Here country people, donkeys, camels, flies and 
lice, sugar cane, oranges, candies, salads, sheep, 
grass, baskets with eggs, coops of palm-wood con- 
taining chickens, are indescribably mixed. Some 
are sitting on the ground around a dish out of 
which they take their morning meal. We are now 
well on our way, and soon the drivers enter the 
gates into extensive shady grounds, in which stand 
the buildings of the new but already famous 
Boulak Museum. Formerly this museum, or rather 
a very small part of it, was located in the city. 
Now it occupies the palace of Gizeh, about five 
miles from the heart of the city. It contains the 
most celebrated and extensive collection of Egyp- 
tian antiquities in the world. I can only mention 
a few things of the many I saw there. 

The most interesting wood carving is a statue; 
the right arm hangs at the side, the left hand 
clasps a stick. The features and the style of 
clothing are perfect. It is estimated that this 
statue is from thirty to thirty-five centuries old. 
It was buried for centuries beneath the sands of 
the desert. It is a remarkable fact that the oldest 
tombs of Egypt contain wooden coffins and idols, 
in a high state of preservation. There is also an 



r 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 55 

altar here of the purest alabaster. It was found 
on the right bank of the Nile, and is supposed to 
have existed in the days of Moses. There are 
numerous stone gods here. The statue of Raph- 
sapha ("the man who follows Cheops") is interest- 
ing because it was found in the south-east corner 
of the Great Pyramid. This is a colossal statue 
which was finished before the foundations of 
Hebron were laid or Abraham pitched his tent 
beneath the oak of Mamre. There are figures 
here, playing the harp and flageolet, which are 
supposed to be thirty-six centuries old. These 
prove that these musical instruments were used 
very early. 

One of the most interesting exhibits is the col- 
lection of jewelry which belonged to Queen Aah- 
holep. She lived in the eighteenth dynasty, that 
is thirty centuries ago. Many of our "modern 
styles" of jewelry have evidently been copied from 
this, and equally ancient specimens. Not far from 
the collection of jewelry is the mummy-case of this 
woman. Her picture is on the outside of the case, 
and shows her to have been a woman of prepossess- 
ing appearance. I saw some carpenters' and ma- 
sons' tools close by. The stone plummet is exactly 
like that of to-day. 



156 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

The most interesting part of the collection is the 
group of mummies of the Pharaohs. "The Tombs 
of the Kings," so called, are situated among the 
cliffs, three miles west of Thebes. They contained 
no mummies when discovered, and it was for a 
long time a question what had become of them. 
A few years ago thirty-six mummies of the ancient 
Pharaohs and their families were discovered in a gal- 
lery two hundred feet long and thirty feet deep at 
the base of the Libyan Mountains. They had been 
brought here ages before, to protect them from the 
hands of vandalism. A number of these are now 
in the museum in the palace of Gizeh. These 
bodies are in a wonderful state of preservation. 
What is so strange, is that even the flowers which 
were left with the dead look as fresh as if they 
had been buried only a few weeks, instead of sev- 
eral thousand years. The cases in which the 
mummies were enclosed are richly decorated. One 
of them is overlaid in gold, and the name of one of 
these royal personages is set in precious stones. 

I saw the mummy of Sethi I., whom Joseph is 
supposed to have served as Governor. I also saw 
the mummy of Thothmes X., the father of the man 
who erected the obelisk now in Central Park. I 
also saw the mummy of the man who erected the 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 57 

obelisk. The Pharaoh who ordered the destruction 
of the Hebrew boys is here. He is noted for the 
length of his arms and the murderous expression 
of his countenance. Near by him was found the 
beautifully embalmed body of a woman. This 
is no doubt the daughter who rescued Moses 
from a watery grave. With each body was found 
the heart of the individual, in a bronze urn or 
alabaster vase. We are thus permitted to gaze 
upon the very heart which God hardened so that 
its possessor would not let His "people go." If 
in all the realm of poetry or fiction there is any- 
thing more strange, I have not heard of it. The 
Rev. C. Cobern, Ph. D., truly says, modern schol- 
ars are " more accurately informed about the 
ancient history of Egypt than was the .whole col- 
lege of Heliopolis in Herodotus' time. To-day 
Ebur can paint a picture of Thebes in the days of 
Moses, with more accuracy and detail than Becker 
could of Rome, or Delitzsch of Jerusalem in the 
days of Augustus. The whole life of Ancient 
Egypt is open to us. We have the autographs of 
the contemporaries of Moses, and know the names 
of men who must have elbowed him on the street 
or bowed to him at court. * I began to realize as I 

* In Homiletic Review for December, 1889. 



158 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

left the museum, that I was now of a truth in 
Egypt. 

* ' Egypt ! from whose all dateless tombs arose 
Forgotten Pharaohs from their long repose." 

The road to the great pyramid from the 
museum leads in a direct line for a distance of 
about five miles, through a most fertile district. 
The road is shaded on either side by large acacia 
trees, thus rendering it the most pleasant carriage 
drive in Egypt. As we approached the pyramids, 
my friend at my side said, "Well S., I guess you 
were right; that is Cheops.'' And so it proved. 
When we were within three miles, we were sure 
it could not be more than a mile away. When we 
at last reached the hotel, within two hundred yards 
of the great pyramid, we were not sure but that it 
might still be miles away. The air is so clear and 
the pyramids so vast that distances are very de- 
ceptive. Half an hour before we got there, Arabs 
came running towards us with "antiques" for 
sale. They had little gods, images out of the 
mummy pits, coins, alabaster, and everything im- 
maginable. In vain does the visitor tell them 
that he does not wish to buy. They can keep up 
a break-neck speed alongside of a barouche for 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 59 

hours, without apparent wearying. "Good an- 
tiques, very good," is their constant cry. "You 
no buy? Me sell cheap. " One fellow insisted on 
being our guide. He had what he called "gud 
recommendazion." It read, "Do not trust 'this 
fellow; he is the biggest fraud and liar in the 
whole gang." This paper was duly signed by the 
name of a man from Chicago. We did not engage 
him. 

After taking a luncheon in the Khedive's house, 
within a stone's throw of the great pyramid, we 
took a walk. We first went to the Sphinx. 
There is nothing but sand around this and the 
Pyramids which makes walking difficult. Some 
of our party thought they would try camels, but 
they were glad without an exception to dismount 
at the Sphinx and walk back. Everybody knows 
that the Sphinx "has the head of a man and the 
body of a lion," representing wisdom and strength. 
The head, neck and a part of the fore legs is all I 
saw. The shifting sands bury this colossal image 
as often as it is excavated. It was an idol in the 
days of Egypt's glory, as is attested by the sanctu- 
ary in front of the image, and the altar between 
its paws. A monumental tablet older than the 
pyramids has recently been discovered by M. 



l6o A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Mariette. It contains, in hieroglyphics, a list of 
all the Egyptian deities. Among them is the 
Sphinx, known as Hor-em-khoo *'The sun his 
rest." This huge idol measures one hundred and 
forty feet, not including the fore paws, which ex- 
tended about fifty feet in front. The head includ- 
ing the helmet is one hundred and two feet in cir- 
cumference, and the body back of the neck forty 
feet in diameter. For a franc an Arab climbs up 
one of the fore-legs, walks over the mouth and sits 
on one ear. The drifting sands of the desert have 
disfigured this great idol, but the red paint that 
was put there centuries ago can still be seen. The 
whole gigantic figure is cut out of the solid lime- 
stone. When the Sphinx was cut out of eternal 
rock, and under whose direction the chisels which 
completed the mighty task were wielded, no one 
knows. Its origin is shrouded in mystery. 

After our return from the Sphinx and his temple 
we were ready to ascend Cheops. Two apparently 
good-natured Arabs snatched me, and aw^ay we 
went. The steps or stones protruding from the 
sides are two, three and four feet thick. The 
Arabs scramble cat-like up these, and pull you 
after. They frequently asked whether I was tired. 
When I did rest they tried to sell me relics "from 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. l6l 

the doombs." In about fifteen minutes we were 
up. The scenery is sublime. On the one side the 
fertile valley of the Nile stretches like a great pic- 
ture with its villages and the city of Cairo, with 
the Mokkatam hills in the distance. On the other 
side are the apparently interminable sands of the 
mighty desert. After singing "My country, 'tis of 
thee," we descended. I was preceded by my 
guides. I jumped from stone to stone, they hold- 
ing my hands. The next three days I was so stiff 
I could scarcely ascend or descend the stairs in the 
hotel. 

This pyramid is of vast dimensions. It is 764 
feet square at the base, and rises at an angle of 52 
degrees to the enormous height of 480 feet. It 
contains ninety million cubic feet of masonry, and 
covers an area of more than thirteen acres. The 
stones are nearly all very large. Some of them 
are twenty to thirty feet long and from three to 
five feet thick. From it the city of Cairo in Egypt 
could be built, or the city of Washington, in our 
own land, with all its public edifices. 

All of the pyramids have chambers in them. 
The entrance to the Great Pyramid begins fifty 
feet above the base. The passage is three feet 
five inches wide, and three feet eleven high. The 



1 63 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

passage ascends at a moderate incline (twenty- 
seven degrees) a distance of a hundred feet, when 
it turns to the right, where the visitor is com- 
pelled to creep through a hole only fourteen inches 
in diameter; then the passage continues as before, 
to a gallery which leads to a chamber thirty-four 
feet long, seventeen wide, and nineteen high. 
The chamber is in red granite, beautifully pol- 
ished, and is 350 feet from the outer entrance. 
There are two chambers. I have described the 
larger. This room was first entered, so far as we 
know, in A. D. 850. Nothing was found in it 
except the large, lidless sarcophagus which stands 
there to-day. Who built this mighty monument 
of antiquity will probably forever remain a mys- 
tery. Josephus believed that many of these pyra- 
mids were erected by the Hebrews, which is quite 
probable, inasmuch as some of them are built of 
sun-dried brick without straw. 

It is believed by some archaeologists that Joseph 
built the Great Pyramid with the labor of the peo- 
ple who were gathered in the city during the 
famine, and supported from the public store. It 
may have been erected as a depository for valuable 
records, and for astronomical purposes, as is as- 
serted by many. The body of Joseph may have 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 63 

originally reposed in the now empty sarcophagus. 
His brethren, it will be remembered, promised to 
remove Joseph's body from its resting-place, and 
carry it with them to the land of promise. What 
a discovery that would be, if the embalmed body 
of Joseph would one day be found in a rock-hewn 
tomb in Palestine ! The hieroglyphics on the 
Great Pyramid without doubt refer to Joseph. The 
cartouch found above the king's chamber contain- 
ing the name Suphis (Joseph), is identical with the 
one in Wady Magharah, on the way which the 
Israelites journeyed to the land "flowing with milk 
and honey." 

On the thirteenth of March, a number of us 
boarded a steamer on the historic Nile, for a trip 
to Memphis, the Noph of Scriptures. On the way 
to this historic city the traveler passes the Kilo- 
meter on the island of Rhoda. It is a well eigh- 
teen feet square, with a pillar in the centre, upon 
which the rise and fall is indicated by a scale 
divided into seventeen cubits. A cubit is about 
twenty-one and a half inches in length. The 
building surrounding the Nilometer stands in a 
beautiful garden. This building is covered on the 
dome and walls with passages from the Koran. It 
was erected in A. D. 848. It is probable that 



164 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

Nilometers existed in the time of the Pharaohs. 
The people were taxed in proportion to the 
amount of water put on the land. These indicated 
the amount. Now they are.useful in determining 
how far the canals for inundating are to be opened 
and how far to prepare for the overflow. The 
Nile at Cairo rises as high as twenty-five and 
twenty-six feet above low water. Egypt is the gift 
of the Nile. Were it not for the overflow of this 
wonderful river, Egypt would be one vast desert. 
Memphis is about twelve miles by steamer south of 
Cairo. It was founded by the first king of Egypt 
of whom history gives us any account. It was for 
a thousand years the capital of Egypt, and the 
finest and largest city in the land. Here Joseph 
had his home. Here he was falsely imprisoned, 
here he was vindicated, and here he rode in the 
first chariot of the land. Here Moses spent his 
boyhood, and here he wrought those stupendeous 
miracles which have continued the wonder of the 
ages, and the stumbling-block of infidelity. 

No doubt some if not all of these pyramids 
which still stand the monuments of misguided am- 
bition, were erected by the enslaved Hebrews. 
The embankments which once protected the city 
from the inundation of the Nile, have been washed 



A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 1 65 

away; the overflowings of the river have nearly ob- 
literated the site of where was once such pomp and 
glory. There is an Arab village with its stone and 
mud houses, its narrow alleys, its mud walls, and 
the filth and squalor that is so characteristic of 
Arab towns. The place is surrounded by a beauti- 
ful grove of date-bearing palms. Here was the 
grand temple of Osiris. Broken columns, mounds 
of sun-dried bricks and huge blocks of granite, are 
all that remain of its ancient splendor. Here is a 
statue of Rameses II, the Pharaoh of the oppression. 
An outline of his daughter (his wife, some say) is 
hewn on the lower end of the back of the statue of 
the king. This statue was one of the two which 
stood in front of the gateway leading to the mag- 
nificent temple of Osiris. The face looks young, 
and the ladies of our party said he was "good 
looking." At the side of the monument is a 
cubical block recording a visit to King Hezekiah, 
in Jerusalem. A little further on we came to a 
second statue of the same king, representing him 
when he was forty years old. This statue, it is 
said, was originally sixty-five feet high. In front 
of the great temple was a large lake, many acres in 
extent. It was in this temple that they crowned 
the Egyptian kings, from Menes to the Ptolemies. 



1 66 A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

Back of these ruins, I obtained a good idea of 
Arabian farming. There are of course no fences. 
Canes placed upright along the path on which we 
rode, showed where the ground had been planted. 
Beyond these canes were long rows of onions. Be- 
tween the rows of onions, cucumbers and salad 
were planted, ready at that time (March 13) for 
the table. The soil is very fertile, but the natives 
carry a fertilizer (black ground from the river) in- 
land on the backs of camels. 

Five miles from where we disembarked we 
struck the lyibyan desert and the Necropolis of 
Memphis. For miles the country on the edge of 
the desert seems literally covered with ancient 
broken pottery, the remains of the old city. This 
cemetery in the desert is the oldest and largest 
burying place in the world. It extends from 
the Pyramids of Gizeh on the north, to those of 
Dashur on the south, a distance of more than a 
score of miles. It is estimated that it contains at 
least 25,000,000 human corpses. The Egyptians 
embalmed animals, such as birds, cats, etc. Mil- 
lions of animals are contained in these vast fields 
of the dead. I saw skulls and the larger bones of 
bodies which had been placed here three thousand 
years ago. The Arabs use these remains for fer- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 67 

tilizers. The linen (and it is the finest imagin- 
able) in which the mummies were wrapped, is 
exported in vast cargoes to Europe, and even 
America, for the manufacture of paper. In some 
of the pits hewn out of the solid limestone, the 
bodies of the poorer classes are piled one upon 
another, like pieces of wood in layers, two and 
three feet deep. These are all as well preserved as 
the Pharaohs in the Museum, and were no doubt 
contemporaneous with them. These are the peo- 
ple who saw Joseph and his brethren in the days 
when Israel was honored in the land of the Pha- 
raohs. It is supposed, from the fact of the great 
rows of mummies hastily embalmed, (all being 
young persons, not emaciated as if sick for a long 
time, but round and plump,) I say, that these are 
the first-born ''from the Pharaoh that sat on his 
throne unto the first-born of the captive that was 
in the dungeon"* that perished in that awful 
night when Israel left Egypt. 

The city of Memphis no doubt took its name 
from a pyramid here which is built in layers 
diminishing as they go up. If this is so, this 
pyramid is the oldest monument in the world ! 
There are eleven of these pyramids, but this is 
* Exodus xii. 29. 



l68 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

evidently the oldest. These are known as the 
Pyramids of Sakkara. 

North of this pyramid is the Serapeum or tombs 
of the sacred bulls. These are the bulls that were 
worshiped here. They killed these bulls if they 
did not die before they were twenty-five years old. 
Then they were dumped into a great well. If they 
died before being twenty-five, they were buried 
amid bacchanalian festivities in the Serapeum. 
When the calf for the making of another god was 
found, he was kept forty days at Nilopolis, then 
taken by water to Memphis, where he was at- 
tended forty days by naked women: then he be- 
came a god ! 

From this bull-worship the Hebrews obtained the 
idea of the golden calf which was erected in the 
wilderness when Moses was on the mount. Apis, 
or the bull, was regarded as the incarnation of 
Osiris, the god of the Nile. The vast tomb is 
hewn out of the solid rock. Over this tomb the 
temple of Serapis stood, "where the sacred cubit 
and other symbols were kept," and funeral ser- 
vices were held. After lighting tapers we de- 
scended into the vaults. In the vaults are granite 
sarcophagi thirteen feet long, eight feet wide and 
eleven high. Here the embalmed bulls were put. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 1 69 

The granite is polished beautifully. Ten of these 
monster stone boxes never had anything in them. 
These sarcophagi weigh sixty tons. They were 
brought here from immense distances. 

We also visited the the tomb of Tih, not far 
from the Serapeum. This tomb dates back to the 
fifth dynasty, and is more than four thousand years 
old, yet the walls are as straight and perfect as if 
finished last year. The covering, and other parts 
of the passage leading to the tomb, have disap- 
peared ; but the rest is in an excellent state of 
preservation. There are three chambers, one lead- 
ing into the other. These are all filled with fres- 
coes and sculpture in bas-relief. The fourth is 
the sepulchral chamber. The frescoes represent 
scenes in his life. This Tih was a priest in 
Memphis, and very rich. There are harvest 
scenes, fishing scenes, and men bringing tithes to 
Tih, who receives them. In short, the principal 
acts of the man's life are here delineated. These 
frescoes lay buried in the sands of the desert for 
twenty centuries, unknown and unnoted, and yet 
they rival in perfection of colors the paintings of a 
Rubens or an Angelo. It seems as if a temple had 
been built over this tomb and divine honors were 
paid to Tih. There was a tube from above through 



170 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

which his devotees could speak to him in the 
tomb below. On our way back we passed through 
a Bedouin camp, and what was more remarkable, 
a shower of rain. Our backs were well soaked, but 
they soon dried again in the hot sun. We had 
scarcely gotten on board our boat before it rained 
very heavily. After luncheon we sailed back to 
Cairo, well pleased with what we had seen and 
learned at Memphis, the Noph of Scripture. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Heliopolis — Temple — Phoenix — School of Philosophy — Obe- 
lisk — Spring — ** Virgin's Tree " Garden of Cleopatra — Thebes 
— Temple of Karnak — Of Luxor — Hall of Columns — Addenda 
by Dr. Kirk— Ride up the Nile— The Nile— Asyoot— Blind- 
ness and Flies — Water lifts — Abydos — Columns — Luxor — 
Thebes — Karnak — Avenue of Sphinxes — Halls — Nautch 
dance — Tombs of the Pharoahs — View — Traveling on Nile — 
Ismailia — Ride through the Desert — Suez Canal — Port Said 
— Reflections. 

One beautiful afternoon in the middle of March 
about a dozen of us drove to the site of Heliopolis, 
called in old Egyptian On and Ha-Ra. This 
was one of the oldest cities in Egypt. It was situ- 
ated at the head of the Nile Delta, about eight 
miles north of Cairo. This city was famous for its 
temple of the sun and its learned priests. This 
temple was approached through an avenue of 
marble sphinxes and obelisks. The temple itself 
stood at one end of an inclosure three miles in cir- 
cumference. The ruins of these walls can still be 
traced. Here the Phoenix was consumed. This 
was a bird of beautiful plumage, about the size of 
an eagle. It always lived five hundred years. At 



172 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

the end of that time it would come to Heliopolis 
and cast itself into a fire perfumed with spices. 
This fire a priest in the temple of the sun prepared 
on an altar for the bird's special benefit. The ashes 
remained on the altar for two days, when a worm 
would appear, then on the third day the revivified 
bird would arise and soar away more beautiful than 
ever. 

The priests of this temple were skilled in all 
the mysteries and the philosophy of Egypt. Here 
in this celebrated city Plato studied philosophy 
and astronomy four hundred years before Christ 
was born. Moses received his training here, and in 
this city Joseph found a wife among the daughters 
of the high priest. We have many reasons to sup- 
pose that the ancient college at Heliopolis far ex- 
celled anything of that name now to be found in 
Egypt — the famous university, that burlesque on 
modern institutions of learning, not excepted. 

There are few ruins at Heliopolis to-day, to tell 
its ancient grandeur. An Arab by the name of 
Abdallatif, living in the twelfth century, speaks of 
colossal figures in stone, standing and sitting, and 
some of them more than thirty cubits high. There 
is one lone obelisk standing here, a single conspic- 
uous monument of the city's departed greatness. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 1 73 

This obelisk is nearly 5000 years old. It bears 
the name of Osortasen I, who lived 3000 years be- 
fore Christ. Two obelisks were removed by the 
Greeks from this place to Alexandria. One of 
these is now in New York, and the other in L,on- 
don. The obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, is 
also from Heliopolis. It was near this monument 
that Kleber thrashed the Turks, on the twentieth 
of March, in the first year of this century. If this 
lone shaft of granite could remember and speak, 
what startling facts and momentous events it could 
rehearse ! It used to stand on an eminence, now 
the land is low all about it. I was compelled to 
walk through a pool of water to gain its side. The 
Nile has drifted millions of tons of soil into the low 
land. Beneath that soil, I doubt not, lie buried 
some rich treasures of ancient art and wealth. 
This place, at present, is famous for the only spring 
in Egypt. Near the valley of Matareah is a beau- 
tiful garden, from which we bought very cheap 
the most delicious oranges I tasted in Egypt 
Here is the "Virgin's Tree," an old sycamore, 
underneath whose spreading branches the Holy 
Family are said to have rested, when they fled from 
Herod. The Arabs and Copts seem to venerate 
this tree, but when or how this tradition origina- 
ted, I cannot tell. 



174 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

Near this city was the magnificent garden of 
that talented and wicked woman, Cleopatra. Here 
she grew the Balm of Gilead, which she had 
brought from Judea. The soil is still fertile, and 
the country is beautiful. When the red sun sank 
to his burning bed amidst the sands, I could hardly 
realize that I jwas in the land of Goshen, nearly 
six thousand miles from home. 

I have not, as the intelligent reader will know, 
exhausted the whole vast list of famous remains 
that have been found along the Nile, upon which 
was cradled the most ancient recorded civilization. 
The ruins of Karnak and lyUxor, which once 
formed a part of "hundred-gated Thebes," are as 
interesting as any in Egypt I can only mention 
these in this little volume. Thebes is a very 
ancient city in Upper Egypt Our earliest reliable 
history does, however, not date further back than 
B. C. 1500. A large part of the city was built on 
an island in the Nile. About all that remains east 
of the Nile are the famous ruins at Karnak and 
Luxor, two modern villages near these famous 
ruins. The temple of Karnak which was dedi- 
cated to Jupiter Amnon, was connected by a 
magnificent avenue of statues and sphinxes with 
the temple at lyuxor. A perfect forest of columns, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 1 75 

no two of which are alike in sculpture or coloring, 
adorn these grand temples. The temple area was 
a square of ninety acres, one-third of which was 
covered by the building. Four gates, one to each 
cardinal point, led to the temple. Behind each 
gate were two others, separated from each other by 
proper intervals. These intervals or avenues were 
adorned with sphinxes. These gateways are the 
grandest ruins in Egypt. The ' ' Hall of Columns, ' ' 
at Karnak is 329 feet long and 170 wide, and 
eighty feet in the clear. The stone ceiling rests 
on stone girders, and is supported by 134 columns, 
the highest sixty-six feet, and the lowest forty-two 
feet in length. Here, too, are obelisks and statues, 
all of which conspire to make this the grandest 
temple in Egypt, if not in the world. The temple 
at Luxor is second only to that at Karnak. It 
dates back to the time of Queen Hatasan, the sup- 
posed Pharaoh's daughter who adopted Moses, 
' ' She built this temple ' ' is the record on the 
square. The coloring after the lapse of so many 
centuries in this temple is truly wonderful. 

The time for us to leave the land of the 
Pharaohs came all too soon. We took our last 
look on the Nile, of which Leigh Hunt says : 



176 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

*It flows through old hush'd Egypt and its sands, 
Like some grave mighty thought threading a dream." 

* 'After a five o'clock dinner, on March 12, 1890, 
we took carriages for the Ghizeh railroad station, 
a distance of about three miles from our hotel, the 
Hotel du Nil, and under the shadow, it almost 
seemed, of the Pyramids. * The first 230 miles, to 
Asyoot, was to be made by rail, at night, as we 
were to return the same way by daylight; the 
railroad being always in sight of the Nile; In the 
absence of Pullman sleepers, we were compelled to 
ensconce ourselves, for a night's rest, as comfort- 
ably as possible under the circumstances. Six of 
us occupied a compartment, with two double seats, 
facing each other, each the width of the car, and 
with genuine Yankee ingenuity we began to de- 
vise plans whereby we might best utilize the sleep- 
ing facilities of our compartment. This resulted in 
two occupying each double seat, foot to foot, and 
the other two taking the floor between the seats, the 
whole operation completed by a systematic dove- 
tailing scheme. Thus we passed the night. We 
may have slept, but we cannot declare truthfully 

* I am indebted to Dr. Harvey M. Kirk, of Columbus, Ohio, 
for the following account of a trip up the Nile. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 77 

that it was delightful repose. The atmosphere, as 
is usual at night in Egypt, was very chilly, and it 
was all we could do, with our shawls, or overcoats, 
wrapped about us, to keep warm. 

"At about five o'clock the next morning, and 
just as daylight was breaking, our train suddenly 
stopped, and we were apprised that we had arrived 
at Asyoot, the Capital of Upper Egypt. Hastily 
gathering our effects together, we left the train, 
and after breakfast we were off on donkeys for 
Asyoot. 

"The Nile, the * river of life' of Egypt, has 
always been a mysterious river — mysterious as to 
source, annual inundation, and as to flowing the 
distance of 1,350 miles to the sea, without a tribu- 
tary. It is referred to several times in Holy Writ. 
On its bosom, near Cairo, floated the infant Moses; 
not far distant, on its banks, the Holy Family took 
refuge in a cave to escape the wrath of an unjust 
ruler; its waters were turned to blood when the 
heart of Pharaoh was hardened. 

"By the annual inundation, a thin layer of ferti- 
lizing mud is spread over the land, and the canals 
are filled with the precious water. Seeds and grain, 
spread broadcast, produce a bountiful harvest. The 
inundation begins in the latter part of June, 



178 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I<ANDS. 

reaching its highest point during the latter part of 
September; it remains at this point about fifteen 
days, when it gradually recedes. The best average 
rise is 24 feet above low- water mark. Should the 
water rise no higher than 18 feet, a famine would 
ensue. Should it rise 30 feet, a flood would be the 
result. 

' * Our path led us westward through fertile fields 
of the valley, to the City of Asyoot, a town of 
25,000 inhabitants — at present the seat of a large 
market, and formerly the principal slave market, 
but abolished some time since. On the road, we 
passed by a school, under the auspices of the Pres- 
byterian American Mission, containing nearly 200 
students. Approaching the city, fifteen minarets 
and turrets can be counted. We passed directly 
through the city, then crossed a bridge spanning a 
canal, soon arriving at the base of a sandy moun- 
tain, about 400 feet in height. Cut in the face of 
the mountain, we see large holes, and are informed 
that they were formerly used as sepulchres. Dis- 
mounting, we begin the ascent. About two-thirds 
of the way up, we arrive at a very large cavern. 
This was used as a royal tomb 4000 years ago.* 

*This is the place where, in 1878, an Arab discovered the 
tomb of the Pharaohs. He kept the secret for three years, but 
was found out through the relics which he sold. — S. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 1 79 

Passing into a corridor, we are led into a large 
hall, containing a number of smaller chambers or 
recesses. Continuing our ascent, our perspiring 
crowd ere long arrived at the summit, where a 
scene of rare beauty met our gaze. At our feet, as 
it were, and to the right, lay the Coptic city of As- 
yoot, with its tall minarets and rounded domes; to 
the left a little, the necropolis, white like alabaster. 
Beyond, the valley of the Nile, with its glistening, 
serpentine river near the centre, trimmed with 
living green, the whole flanked by the chain of 
Arabian and Ivibyan hills. Resting, and ponder- 
ing the scene for a time, we return to our donkeys. 
" Passing along the narrow streets, from 6 to 12 
feet wide, lined on either side, some of them with 
bazaars with cross-legged, lazy-appearing, turbaned 
proprietors, stared at by the dirty half-clad pop- 
ulace, does not require any stretch of imagination 
to make one feel that he is indeed in the very heart 
of the Orient. The houses here, as well as all 
through the Nile villages, are constructed of adobe, 
or sun-dried mud, in the shape of bricks; serving 
their purpose very well in this hot climate where 
rain seldom falls; were it to rain hard, they would 
be melted, and their huts thus destroyed. The 
houses are of one story, sometimes with a flat roof 



l8o A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

covered with matting, sometimes having the same 
adobe roof, though dome- shaped. The floor is the 
ground, undecorated and uncovered. Dirt and filth 
predominate. Blindness, and partial blindness, 
exist to an alarming exent, caused mainly by the 
unmolested multitudes of flies which are allowed to 
gather around and in the eyes of the children, be- 
ing never brushed away by the mothers or persons 
in charge; congregating so thickly about the child's 
eyes as to render the eyes invisible to an observer. 
This, together with the concomitant filth, is the 
most prolific source of blindness. 

** Two familiar and oft-appearing sights are the 
palm groves and water-lifts. The former are very 
beautiful, with their huge, tall single trunks, and 
the large tuft of foliage at the top. The latter are 
constantly in sight, and are necessary adjuncts to 
the Fellaheen's success. 

*'The most common method employed to raise 
the water from the river to the irrigating canals on 
the shore, is by means of a skin bucket attached 
to a long pole, with a lump of mud on the other 
end to balance the bucket when filled with water, 
the whole resting upon a sort of frame. The 
bucket is operated by a man, who dips the bucket 
into the river and raises it by a hand-over-hand 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. l8l 

motion, and pours it into the canal on the shore. 
It often happens, when the bank is high, that two, 
three, or even four, of these 'shadoofs' are neces- 
sary to raise the water to the shore and turn it into 
the canal, through which it flows into smaller and 
more distant canals. We pass high hills on both 
sides of the stream, in whose sides are holes, or 
caves, used in days past as tombs. We also see 
lots of sheep, but they have inverted our rule here. 
Instead of having ordinary white sheep, with an 
occasional black one, they have all black sheep, 
with an occasional white one. 

"We have plenty to eat; our cuisine is all one 
could wish in this part of the world, and a great 
deal better than we had expected to encounter 
We have breakfast at 8:30 a. m., luncheon at 
12:30 p. m., tea and crackers at 4 p. m. on the 
promenade deck (over which is stretched a can- 
opy during the hot part of the day), dinner at 6:30 
p. m., and tea and crackers again at 8:30 p. m. 
We are now, 6 p. m., at anchor at a small village, 
and the perfume of orange blossoms is delightful. 

"On the morning of March 15th, at about 9 a. m., 
we arrived at the village of Bellianeh. We took 
donkeys for the Temple of Abydos, six miles west- 
ward. We arrived in about one and one-half 



l82 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

hours, and at the far end of a miserable mud vil- 
lage came all at once upon the ruins of the great 
temples of Abydos — piles of mammoth remains. 
Surrounded at once by a motley crowd of natives, 
all voracious for 'baksheesh,' from the old grey- 
headed priest of the household to the smallest of 
the tribe, the latter holding out its hand and lisp- 
ing 'baksheesh,' simply because it was undoubt- 
edly its first lesson in a, b, c. The first temple we 
see, the Temple of Sethi I. , was built by order of 
Sethi I. about 1300 or 1400 B. C. This place is 
remarkable as being the birthplace of Menes, 
founder of the Egyptian monarchy, and here is 
also the place where Osiris was born, educated 
and buried. This has been a gorgeous temple, 
replete with wonderful sculptures and highly- 
finished hieroglyphics. The temple has two large 
courts, one containing twenty-four, and one thirty- 
six huge columns. A hall leading to the King's 
Chamber gives the names and cartouches of the ']6 
kings, from Menes to Sethi I. , on a finely-executed 
tablet, called the New Tablet of Abydos. This 
tablet is one of the most valuable records ever dis- 
covered in Egypt, being a kind of key to the 
whole of Egyptian history. 

"A little farther north is another ruin, the Tern- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 83 

pie of Rameses II., son of Sethi I. Not so much 
remains of this temple as of, the former. Built by 
Rameses 11. while on the throne, it is believed to 
have surpassed the former in grandeur. We see 
immense blocks of stone, granite, and alabaster, 
some of them twelve to fifteen feet long, and from 
four to five feet square at the ends. The roofs of 
these buildings were made by laying crosswise on 
their faces, from one architrave to another, huge 
stones, then arched and adorned with sculptures 
and hieroglyphics. 

^' At five p. m., March i6th, we arrived at I^uxor, 
450 miles above Cairo. Disembarking for a short 
ramble, we wandered among the ruins of the Tem- 
ple of Luxor, which is, just a short distance from 
where our boats anchor. Luxor is a moderate 

sized town, with the same attributes precisely as 

It 
the other Nile towns. The town is built about 

the Temple. The natives are such infernal pests 
here, that one can hardly contain himself. They 
are continually dogging our steps, either begging, 
trying to sell us some worthless article, or en- 
deavoring to tell us something in their pigeon- 
Bnglish. Thus it has been ever since we struck 
Africa, and the farther we penetrate the worse 
it gets. They follow us like a hungry horde, and 
it takes several native dragomen to keep them off. 



184 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

' ' At this temple is the celebrated large obelisk, 
the companion of which occupies the site of the 
Place de la Concorde, Paris. Of course, it is un- 
derstood that these obelisks always were erected in 
pairs. This one consists of one solid piece of fine 
polished red granite, 84 feet high, and erected 
where it is now standing over 3300 years ago. 
Here are several immense granite statues of Ra- 
meses II. no less than 25 feet high. The outer 
walls of the temple are ponderous affairs, built on 
the battery wall plan, thicker at the bottom than 
at the top, this one being about 25 feet thick at the 
base. 

''After breakfast next morning we were rowed 
across to the west bank of the river, where we took 
donkeys for the temples of Thebes, about three 
miles distant. We first visited the Temple of Ra- 
meses II, also called the Ramesium. This temple 
was constructed about 2000 years B. C. The ancient 
city of Thebes occupied both sides of the river at 
this point, the west side being principally occupied 
by temples and palaces, and was also used as a ne- 
cropolis. Here at the Ramesium is the giant 
statue of Rameses II, constructed from one solid 
piece of red granite. It is prostrate and broken 
now, but in its glory it stood over 50 feet high 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 185 

and weighed nearly 1,000 tons — the largest ever 
constructed. 

"The Egyptians take no care of their monu- 
ments and ruins at Thebes — very much unlike the 
Italians, whose government realizes a considerable 
revenue from its ruins, which are strictly guarded 
by Roman and Italian soldiery. Other Theban 
monuments are the Tembles of Koorneh, Dahr-el- 
Bahree, Medinet Haboo and others, including the 
Tombs of the Kings. Other wonderful monu- 
ments are the two Colossi, which once stood be- 
fore a temple, now standing alone in a vast plain 
like two giant sentinels. They are in a seated 
posture, and are sixty feet in height. 

"At some distance, in a northerly direction, is 
the wonderful Temple of Medinet Haboo, erected 
by Rameses III. The ruins are apparently more 
extensive than the others, and date back nearly 
4000 years. They were restored before the time of 
Christ, by Emperors Neva and Alex. Severus. 

"Returning to our boats, tired and warm, we 
take our lunch, preparatory to visiting the re- 
nowned Karnak in the afternoon. After lunch, the 
next thing for each one was to get his sine qua 
non — the donkey. Starting northward, passing 
through Luxor, for about two miles beyond we 



1 86 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

rode through a fertile plain. We first pass under a 
mammoth archway, probably eighty or ninety feet 
in height, leading us into the famous Avenue of 
Sphinxes. This must have been a wonderful 
sight, ere time and vandalism laid their destruc- 
tive hands upon these mighty works. There used 
to be two hundred giant sphinxes arranged on 
either side of the road. The pedestals still remain, 
the heads in most cases being broken off. This was 
one of the approaches to the great Temple of Kar- 
nak, there being seven equally as grand, of differ- 
ent designs, but having wonderful propylse, arches 
and walks. The main feature, to the tourist, is 
the Grand Hall. Entering by an immense pro- 
pylon, 370 feet in breadth, with a tower 140 feet 
high, we come upon a striking sight. This hall 
is about 170x329 feet. It contains 134 enormous 
columns, some of them, the middle rows, being 66 
feet in height, without the capitals, and 36 feet in 
circumference, all carved and sculptured in a won- 
derful degree. Leaving this hall, as far almost as 
one can see there stretches out one immense pile 
of interminable ruins. Here is the largest and 
finest obelisk known, being 92 feet in height and 
8 feet square at the base. It is said that in the 
palmiest days of Thebes and Karnak this obelisk 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 187 

was surmounted by a pyramid of pure gold. 
Erected nearly 1500 years B. C, this obelisk still 
stands as straight and perfect as though it were 
erected but yesterday, a striking example of the 
permanency of earthly things. Beside it is a 
smaller obelisk in almost perfect preservation. 
Another part of the temple, called the ruined sanc- 
tuary, is estimated to have been built over 3000 
years B. C. 

^'The whole structure dates back to the times of 
Sethi I. and the Rameses, from 1300 to 1500 B. C. 
The walls of the outside are 80 feet high, and 25 
feet thick at the base, and the whole structure 
about one and three-quarters miles around. Wand- 
ering over this ruined temple, climbing over im- 
mense piles of ruins and debris, walking for hours, 
it may be, through various halls and chambers, 
one can only faintly realize the wondrous grandeur 
and pomp that once existed there. The various 
scenes pass before one's vision like a panorama, till 
finally, almost bewildered, one sits down to rest, 
and to ponder, and to decide for a certainty, if pos- 
sible, whether what he sees is actually a reality, or 
merely a fleeting vagary of dreamland. 

* ' After several hours we returned to our boats, 
following a different route from the one we came, 



1 88 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

the whole distance nearly, right alongside the 
river. We were thoroughly tired, but more than 
repaid, for the exertion of the trip to Karnak. 

"This evening, by the payment of a small admis- 
sion fee, we were entertained at the rooms of the 
American Consul by a Nautch dance, by three fe- 
male dancers. They were dressed in white, with 
long pendant ear-drops. Their dancing consisted 
mainly in violent contortions of the body, accom- 
panied by a gliding across the floor. During the 
ceremony two or three musicians dealt out har- 
mony (?) from a fiddle and a kind of drum. One 
of the dancers did a very clever piece of bal- 
ancing a lighted candle on her head while going 
through her manoeuvres, even lying flat on the 
floor, then standing erect, without disturbing the 
candle. At the conclusion of the dancing, the ser- 
vants brought in a genuine mummy, several 
thousands of years old, they said, which they pro- 
ceeded to open, to our intense delight. The 
mummy proved to be that of a lady of rank, as she 
wore an anklet and a ring on her finger. 
Certainly it was a rare sight for Americans. 

''March i8. — We rose at 4 A. m., breakfasted soon 
after, and before daylight crossed the Nile in boats 
to Thebes, thence to the Tombs of the Kings. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORtC LANDS. 1 89 

After a two-mile ride we stop for a while at the 
Temple of Koorneh, dedicated to Rameses I. by 
his son Sethi I., and in turn completed by his son, 
Rameses II., the Sesostris of the Greeks, about 
1400 B. C. 

*' Remounting our donkeys, we make a long ride 
through bleak, stony places and narrow passes. 
We finally arrive at Tomb No. 2, the tomb of 
Rameses IV., constructed 1250 B. C. These royal 
sepulchres are situated in the valley of Bab-el- 
Molook. The tombs are excavated into the solid 
rock of the mountain, bearing resemblance to a 
large corridor or hall, gradually descending; sev- 
eral hundred feet in length, the walls highly deco- 
rated, with occasionally small anti-chambers in the 
sides, while the royal sarcophagus occupies the ex- 
treme internal end of this elongated tomb. After 
the burial the entrances to these tombs were cov- 
ered up, so as to afford no trace of the spot. 
Already about twenty-five have been discovered. 
We visited also the tombs of Rameses III., VIL, 
IX., and Sethi I. At 10 A. m., we lunched in 
front of Tomb No. 19, where we were all photo- 
graphed in the act by our party photographer; 
after which we began the ascent of the moun- 
tain on foot, followed by our donkeys and donkey 



190 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

boys. . Finally, tired and perspiring, we reached 
the summit, where we came, after a while, to a 
small plateau facing the Nile Valley, where we 
gained a splendid view of the Nile, the Valley, 
Thebes, I^uxor, and Karnak beyond the river. 
Descending to the opposite side of the I^ibyan 
mountain, we come upon and enter the Temple of 
Dahr-el-Bahree. This is a peculiarly arranged 
temple, being built up against the mountain side, 
the mountain thus forming one side of the struc- 
ture, and the courts being at different elevations 
up the mountain side. It was right in this imme- 
diate vicinity that the mummy of Rameses II. was 
found, now in the Museum at Cairo. 

'* Traveling at this season is still pleasant. 
Though the days are hot, the evenings and nights 
are delightfully cool. During the day time the 
sun's rays beat down with a tremendous force, even 
at this time of the year, and when in sandy places, 
the sand reflects the heat, thus aggravating the 
case. 

** March 19. — ^We arrived to-day at Denderah, 
where we stopped off to visit the Temple of Den- 
derah. We of course passed by here on our up- 
ward trip, but the conductor preferred us to see 
this place on the return trip. The Temple of 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. I91 

Denderah is on the west bank of the river, nearly 
opposite Keneh, on the east bank, and about 395 
miles above Cairo. We take our donkeys again, 
and ride about three miles ere we arrive at the 
monument. It was built about 2000 years ago, 
consequently rather modern in comparison with 
the ancient structures we have been used to seeing 
the past two days. It is in a splendid state of pre- 
servation, with its massive columns and its heavy, 
receding or battery walls. The building is nearly 
perfect, roof and everything. The battery style ot 
walls is coming into use again by our architects 
and builders in very heavy buildings, illustrating 
the proverb, 'There is nothing new under the 
sun.' The lower part of the building was dedi- 
cated to the goddess Isis, the upper part, the astro- 
nomical portion, to Osiris. Upon entering the 
building we first come into the grand hall, with its 
24 great columns. There are several smaller 
rooms, or sanctuaries, with no windows, where it 
is supposed that certain rites were observed by the 
priests, in secret, and the Fates consulted; here are 
also crypts for treasures and sacred emblems. Into 
one room the king alone could enter. 

"There is an interesting fact connected with the 
erection of this temple. Treated as slaves by the 



192 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Greeks, they were slaves, in fact, to the Romans. 
Bvery third year their houses were ransacked and 
robbed by the Romans, and their wealth wrested 
from them. But, denying themselves all but the 
most necessary and coarsest food and raiment, in 
secret they constructed this grand temple, un- 
known to their lord the emperor. It was zeal that 
prompted the sacrifice, they believing it to be their 
first duty and moral obligation to erect a suitable 
temple for their deities." 

We were ofi" for Ismailia, a town on the Suez 
Canal. It is quite young, having been founded in 
1863 to serve as a central point in the work on the 
canal. It is beautifully situated in the midst of 
gardens which are watered by canals conducting 
the water from the Nile. The journey through 
the desert between Cairo and Ismailia, in uncom- 
fortably crowded cars, was not very pleasant. We 
passed over the battle-field, and saw the sand-hills 
beneath which many a brave English soldier 
sleeps who fell in the late war. But these men 
have not died in vain. They gave their lives that 
under God a new era might dawn in Egypt, and 
the sceptre of righteousness might reign in the 
land where the bigotry and superstition of the 
false prophet reigned too long. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 93 

From Ismailia we went to Port Said on a boat 
up the Suez Canal. The opening of this canal is 
one of the greatest works of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. It is eighty-six and one-half miles long, 
250 feet wide, and of sufficient depth to allow 
the largest vessels to pass. About a month in 
time and from six to seven thousand miles in 
distance is thus saved between America or Europe 
.and India and China. This canal was completed 
in 1863, at a cost of $130,000,000. From what 
we read in history, the cutting of this canal was 
no new scheme. Strabo says Rameses II. cut a 
canal between the Nile and the Red Sea thirteen 
centuries before Christ. Some say the work was 
done a century earlier, at the time Joseph was 
Governor. Herodotus says Necho II. enlarged 
this canal in the sixth century before Christ. He 
is said to have sacrificed more than 100,000 lives 
in the work. This canal was frequently repaired, 
but the Arab Caliphs, vandals that they were, 
entirely destroyed it. The canal of Napoleon III. 
extended from sea to sea, and although accom- 
plished at so enormous an outlay of rtioney, prom- 
ises to pay itself. The revenue, which is annu- 
ally increasing, amounts to $6,000,000 annually. 
The banks of the canal are very high. We who 
13 



194 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

went up on a tug could only now and then catch 
a glimpse of the arid wastes beyond. It was the 
coldest ride I had in Egypt. The wind swept 
down the channel towards us with terrific vio- 
lence; but the unpleasant voyage of over half the 
entire length, like all the unpleasant things in 
this life, came to an end, and an hour after dark 
we were at Port Said. This town, like that of 
Ismailia, came into being with the Suez Canal. 
It is about one hundred and fifty miles from Cairo, 
and by water not much farther from Alexandria. 
The land upon which it stands has been largely 
rescued from the sea. I^arge artificial stone pro- 
tect the harbor from the inroads of the tides as 
they come and go. The population of the town 
is composed of almost every nationality under the 
sun. The French and the English predominate. 
This young city is not only the connecting link 
between Asia and Africa, it is in reality the stop- 
ping place between the great sea-ports of Europe 
and the Indian Ocean. 

There are many marks of a higher civilization 
here. First of all, there is the "whisky shop.'* 
This alone is a proof that "civilized" people 
are here. The streets are wide, the houses are 
mostly frame, and on the whole the town resem- 



f 

A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 95 

bles an American city in the west, more than any- 
thing I have seen whilst abroad. On the Sabbath 
we attended divine service in a neat and comfort- 
able house belonging to the Church of England. 
We had a very pleasant Sabbath at Port Said. 

It was about 4 p. m., when we embarked on a 
fine large German I^loyd steamer for Jaflfa. The. 
boat was literally covered with Mohammedan pil- 
grims. I had paid for a first cabin berth, but the: 
cabin was crowded. I might have slept in the 
saloon, but the night being calm I preferred to* 
wrap myself in blankets, and slept on a steamer 
chair on the promenade deck. Here I rested com- 
fortably all night, and in the morning ate a hearty 
breakfast, whilst some who were in the *' stuffy'' 
cabin were far from comfortable. When the sun 
was up we anchored off Jaffa, the Joppa of the 
Bible. 

I had been to Egypt, the land where Israel so- 
journed four hundred and thirty years, during 
which he became a great nation so that when he 
at last broke the shackles of bondage he went forth 
a great company, ' ' six hundred thousand on foot 
that were men, besides children. And a mixed 
multitude went up also; and flocks even very much 
cattle. " I had seen parts of the land of Goshen, the 



196 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

scenes of Israel's domestic tranquillity and barbar- 
ous oppression afterwards. I had, according to the 
best authorities, been within a few miles of Ram- 
eses, the capital or treasure city. In this place 
were discovered the remains of a magnificent 
palace, paved with alabaster, the walls of encaustic 
brick bearing inscriptions, and the oval of Rameses 
IL Though I had not left Egypt along the route 
which they took ; I had no doubt crossed and re- 
crossed their line of march on the way to the Red 
Sea. This route of Lsrael journeyings is now well 
defined by ash-heaps, the remains of their encamp- 
ments over three thousand years ago, and by in- 
scriptions found upon rocks. This is all very 
wonderful; but truth is ever stranger than fiction. 

Such thoughts as these entered my mind on that 
calm night on the Mediterranean, as I looked up 
to the same stars at which Moses so often looked, 
as he led God's people from Egypt to the Land of 
Promise. It was with pleasure that I thought of 
the scenes which I was now to behold in that very 
land in which Israel dwelt after all his wanderings. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

JOPPA — Our arrival— Rolla Floyd— The ''House by the sea- 
side" — American convent — The school of Miss Arnot — 
Orange groves — Lutheran colony — Tropical garden — 

On THE) ROAD TO JERUSAI^KM — Who all went this road — Flow- 
ers — Farming — Going to Market — Ramleh— Tower — Funeral 
— Dinner — Yiew from the Mountains — Abou Gosch — Ain 
Karim — First View of Jerusalem. 

It was not long after the vessel came to anchor, 
before every one of our party was ready and eager 
to get ashore. We had arrived at seven o'clock, 
and anchored, as is usual, about half a mile outside 
of the city, which is built to the very edge of the 
Mediterranean. The distance from the ship to the 
shore is accomplished in small boats when the sea 
is not too wild. There are days when no landing 
can be effected ; but this morning the sea was 
calm. A short time after our anchor was cast we 
were surrounded by a whole fleet of boats repre- 
senting H. Gaze and Son, Thos. Cook and Son, 
and a few hotels. The Arab boatmen here as else- 
where make a loud noise by their discordant cries, 
in their eagerness to get everybody's attention. 
The crowding and pushing is something to be 

( 197 ) 



198 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

dreaded. But we were under the protection of Mr. 
Gaze himself, and the boats of Rolla Floyd, his 
agent, soon conveyed us safely to the shore, and 
through the much-dreaded Turkish custom-house. 
Mr. Floyd, by the way, is an American, a native 
of Maine ; but he has been in this country many 
years, and knows, it is said, every inch of the Holy 
I^and better than any living dragoman. After a 
good breakfast we were ready for sight-seeing. 
Before we left the balcony of the hotel we saw a 
little lake which many years ago was connected 
with the sea. Here Hiram delivered his cedar logs 
to Solomon, which were used in the construction 
of the temple. From here they were transported 
over land, a distance of forty miles, to Jerusalem. 
We went to the '* house by the sea side" where 
Peter saw the heavens opened, and "the Spirit 
said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee." 
We plucked a green fig from a tree standing in the 
yard, and some of the company took water from 
the old well where Peter used to quench his thirst. 
Whilst the house is not the same, the circumstan- 
ces in connection with this wonderful vision, and 
the spreading of the Church of Christ, are all in 
favor of the site having been fully identified. Not 
far from the house of Simon the tanner is the 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 1 99 

place where Dorcas lived, and when she died, "full 
of good works and alms-deeds," her friends sent 
to Lydda for Peter, who came and restored her to 
life again. 

We went to the Armenian convent, and entered 
the rooms in which Napoleon Bonaparte dwelt 
when in Joppa. From these rooms he issued his 
orders for the poisoning of five hundred of his 
countrymen, because he could not take them with 
him. This seemed very inhuman; but they would 
have fallen into the hands of the Turks, who 
would have murdered them in the most barbar- 
ous manner. The fact that this man here ordered 
four thousand Albian soldiers to be shot, after he 
had pledged his honor to treat them as prisoners 
of war, is far more atrocious, and without any ex- 
cuse. 

We turn away from these historic localities to a 
a spot which sheds not a little light and cheer 
amidst the filth and squalor and immorality of 
this region, under the influence and government of 
the Turk. We refer to the mission school of Miss 
Arnot. Here we saw 'about fifty girls, neat and 
clean: something so entirely different from the 
girls on the streets and in their wretched homes, 
that we almost felt at home. We heard them 



200 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

sing the same sweet Christian hymns we sing in 
our own loved land. This school was founded 
by Miss Arnot, in 1863, and though under the 
auspices of no society, has accomplished much 
good. Miss Arnot has a day school and a board- 
ing school. Besides this there is an assembly of 
one hundred or more souls on the Sabbath for 
Protestant Christian worship. This school proves 
that missionary work among the degraded and 
ignorant women of the Kast pays far beyond all 
human expectation. It is by such work that the 
standard of the false prophet will eventually fall, 
and the banner of Christ will be made to wave 
over the land made sacred by His footsteps. As 
we looked into the bright, happy faces of these 
dear children, we resolved that if the Master spares 
us to return to our native land we will take more 
interest in Foreign Missions than ever before. 

After leaving the mission school, we took a 
stroll through one of the large orange groves with 
which Joppa abounds. It is said fifty million 
oranges are picked in these groves every year. 
Most of them are sent to England. The fruit is 
larger, but not as sweet as some I have eaten 
from the groves around Cairo. 

It may be interesting to us as Lutherans to 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 201 

know that there is a colony of about three hun- 
dred souls in this place who came here from Wit- 
tenberg, who are an intelligent and active people. 
They have a neat little church which they call 
Lutheran, and a school for their children which is 
presided over by an "elder," who conducts the 
worship on the Sabbath, 

Near the Lutheran colony is a beautiful tropical 
garden owned by a German Count whom I had 
the pleasure of meeting at Jerusalem. He saw 
us at the hotel in Joppa, and gave us a press- 
ing invitation to call on him. His garden con- 
tains oranges, lemons and bananas. There are 
rose bushes here as tall as sour cherry trees, and 
geraniums six to ten feet high. The Count has a 
room in his palace filled with antiquities, gathered 
mostly from the Philistine country. Among these 
are pieces of statuary, household utensils, and 
many quaint and curious objects. The Count 
takes great pleasure in showing visitors around 
the beautiful garden, sweet with the perfume of 
orange blossoms, roses and other flowers. 

Early on the next morning after our arrival in 
Joppa, we started for Jerusalem. After passing the 
the orange groves we came to the toll-gate. After 
getting our pass we were off along the old road to 



202 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

the Holy City. This is the old and the best road 
to be found in all Palestine. It was used in the 
days of Solomon. Along this road the cedars and 
other material for the building of the temple were 
brought, from Hiram king of Tyre. Along this 
road the Apostles passed to and from Joppa. Here 
too the Crusaders trod, as they went to deliver 
Jerusalem from the hands of the infidel. This 
road Joshua crossed and recrossed in the plain of 
Sharon. The first four or five miles after the 
traveler leaves Joppa he passes through orange 
and pomegranate groves, and olive orchards. It 
is early spring, and flowers bloom in abundance. 
Among them are the narcissus, the anemone, the 
lily and the tulip. We are on the plain of Sharon, 
and it is natural for us to look for the far-famed 
rose of Sharon. It is difl&cult to say which of 
the sweet-scented denizens of the plain is meant 
by Solomon when he says "I am the rose of 
Sharon." Some say it is a species of mallow. 
The flower generally pointed to by the dragoman 
has five petals, and is dark red, with a brown 
center; it grows about six inches high, and liter- 
ally covers the plain. 

On this plain we receive our first idea of Pales- 
tine farming. There is a peasant plowing with a 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 203 

heifer and a donkey unequally yoked together. 
Another has two oxen, which make much the bet- 
ter team. The plow consists of two poles which 
cross each other. The one passes to the yoke; the 
other forms a handle at one end, and to the other 
end a piece of iron as large as a good -sized garden 
hoe is attached. To drive his magnificent span, 
the plowman carries a spear six or eight feet long. 
The one end is pointed; the other has a sort of 
spade attached, with which he cleans the plow- 
share. The pointed end he uses to prod his team. 
It is a cruel stick, and recalls the words in Acts ix, 
5 — ''It is hard for thee to kick against the goad." 
Looking at one of these goads, we can see how 
Shamgar could slay six hundred men with it. 
(Judges iii. 31.) There are no fences. Here and 
there a hedge surrounds an orchard. Fields and 
farms are marked by stones set on end. We can 
readily understand how Ruth could light in the 
field of Boaz apparently by merefchance. 

Along the road we pass camels loaded with 
stones tied to each side of the faithful brute in a 
rope basket. We also pass donkeys and camels 
with oranges packed in the boxes, as we see them 
in our stores. Others have chickens in cages, or 
eggs packed with chaff in great baskets. The 



204 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Arabs make beasts of burden out of their wives and 
daughters. They carry everything imaginable in 
great loads upon their heads, whilst their lords 
drive camels or donkeys before them, or lounge 
lazily by the roadside. 

Such scenes as these beguile the way. We are 
soon at Ramleh. This is said to be the place 
where Joseph of Arimathsea and Nicodemus were 
born. So the dragoman says; but, unfortunately, 
there is nothing to confirm the tradition. The 
streets of the town are very narrow and very dirty. 
There are plenty of dogs, lazy men and half- 
naked children to be seen. Just outside of the 
town, we saw a funeral. The body had just been 
put into the grave. A cluster of women in black 
gowns were sitting a little distance from the tomb, 
weeping and wailing. We would have thought 
that the deceased had many lady friends, had we 
not recalled what we learned in Sunday-school — 
namely that the mourners are hired here, and that 
the vehemence of their grief depends upon the 
amount of money received. At the grave itself 
there were many who had palm branches, the em- 
blems of victory. 

After we left Ramleh, we passed Gimzo, of 2, 
Chron. xxviii. 18, which the Philistines took from 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 205 

Israel in the days of Ahab. We soon afterwards 
descended into the valley of Aijalon, where, "at 
the command of Joshua, the moon stayed until the 
people had avenged themselves upon their ene- 
mies. ' ' 

When we came to Latrone, the reputed dwelling 
place of the penitent thief, we took dinner. There 
is a khan here owned by Rolla Floyd, to whom 
I have already referred. Travelers bring their 
lunch with them, and the men at the khan in the 
travelling season soon spread it on a nice clean 
cloth. The building itself, like all good buildings 
in this land of rocks, has thick stone walls, a stone 
porch, stone steps leading to second floor, which is 
of stone. It has a flat stone roof. 

After an hour's rest we were again on the way. 
The road, which had already begun to ascend and 
and descend hills, now enters the mountains of 
Judea. There is little vegetation on the moun- 
tains. Low heath and a profusion of wild flowers 
grow among the rocks. Here and there we see a 
shepherd with a flock of goats or sheep, which run 
among the rocks and manage to'find enough to sus- 
tain them. The road gradually winds up the 
mountain side until at last we are far above the 
plain of Sharon. Ramleh is in'the distance. The 



2o6 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

road winds like a ribbon of silver over the lime- 
stone in the direction of Joppa ; and there beyond 
the stone towers rolls the Mediterranean. We now 
descend and are soon at Kirjath-jearim (now called 
Abou Gosch, after an Arab robber who formerly- 
lived and did business here), where Abinadab kept 
the Ark of God for twenty years. There is noth- 
ing to be seen here except the ruins of a church, 
sometimes called the Church of Jeremiah. It is 
thought that this is the place where Jeremiah was 
born, the former name of Kirjath-jearim having 
been Anathoth. There are few who believe this. 
About forty-five minutes after we leave this town 
we reach the top of a hill from which we see the 
traditional burying-place of the prophet Samuel. 
In thirty minutes more we come to 'Ain Karim, 
surrounded by fig and olive orchards. Here it is 
said John the Baptist was born. In Luke i. 39 it is 
said, * ' Mary arose * * and went into the hill 
country with haste, into a city of Juda, ' ' which 
seems to be in favor of this place. At the foot of 
the hill is the dry bed of a brook from which 
David is said to have secured the stones with which 
he slew the Philistine giant. From this bridge 
which crosses the brook it is four miles to Jerusalem. 
The road winds gradually up the hill-side. Here, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 207 

along these precipices, the Ark of God was brought 
and songs of joy were sung. But our journey is 
nearing its end. We hasten forward. Ascending 
a little hill by the side of the road, we get our first 
view of the Holy City. It is not the grand, the im- 
pressive view the traveler gains as he enters from 
the Mount of Olives on the other side of the city. 
The sun has already set, the shadows of evening 
are fallen, and we are soon at our hotel. We have 
gained the goal of our journey, and '* hitherto the 
Lord has helped us. " 



CHAPTER XV. 

In the H01.Y City — First view— Temple plateau — Mosque of 
Omar— Sacred rock— El Aksa — "Solomon's Stables" — Via 
Dolorosa — Hospice, Convent of St. John — Church of Holy 
Sepulchre — Anointing slab — Where Mary stood — Sepulchre 
Where Crosses were, etc. — House of Caiaphas — Where the 
"cock crew" — Supper room — Tomb of David, Church of St. 
Anne — Bethesda — General descriptioh of City. 

AFTER a good night's rest we were up bright 
and early to have our first walk in Jerusalem. 
One can scarcely give vent to his feelings as he is 
about for the first time to enter the Holy City, the 
fountain from which civilization has taken its 
source. It is remarkable that on the banks of the 
muddy Tiber there should have arisen the Forum 
and the Palace of the Caesars, the synonyms for a 
civilization which in the days of its greatest glory 
pervaded the then known world. It is even more 
wonderful, that the threshing floor of Oman, on 
Mt. Moriah, should be made an altar on which 
was oflfered the Sacrifice, ^' which taketh away the 
sins of the world" — that Sacrifice which, in the 
very act of being ofiered, has robbed death of its 

(208) 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 209 

sting and the grave of its victory, and laid the 
foundations of a new development, greater and 
grander than that which originated on the banks 
of the muddy Tiber, or the sandy Nile. This 
Jerusalem Christ hallowed by His footsteps, and 
made it sacred by His blood, thus constituting it 
the centre from which should emanate the ener- 
gizing power which has quickened humanity into 
a new life, and has given it the hope of a glorious 
immortality. 

I caught my first glimpse of the Holy City from 
the northwest, where the traveler sees Russian 
buildings outside the walls and the dome of the 
Mosque of Omar on the temple plateau. The bet- 
ter view is from the Mount of Olives. There one 
sees the gray old wall on the east, with the Gate of 
St. Stephen, always open now, and the Golden 
Gate, closed for centuries already. Here the 
Mosque of Omar and the Mosque of Bl Aksa stand 
in bold relief. West of these the domes of the 
church of the Holy Sepulchre are seen. The half 
dozen towers which are prominent in the differ- 
ent parts of the city are minarets, from which the 
muezzin is sounded at dawn, near noon, in the 
afternoon, a little after sunset, and at nightfall. 

There is a similarity of architecture throughout 
14 



2IO A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

the city which is exceedingly monotonous. One 
sees straight walls, some of them higher, some of 
them lower. These walls contain few windows. 
The roofs are flat. Some of them have a dome-like 
centre, as if a great ball made of stone stuck part 
of the way above the roof. I have seen men sitting 
on some of these roofs smoking their pipes, and 
blinking like great owls on the crowd below. 

If the traveler enters by the St. Stephen's Gate^ 
and has provided himself with a pass and a Turk- 
ish soldier, he generally turns his face toward the 
Mosque of Omar. On his way he passes the Jews' 
wailing-place. This is a wall 150 feet long and 50 
feet high, and of great age. If it is Friday after- 
noon, Jews from every country of the civilized 
world may be seen standing with their faces toward 
the wall, chanting in Hebrew such parts of the 
Bible as the 79th Psalm and the 64th chapter of 
Isaiah. The old wall is full of rusty nails, which 
the Jews leave, thinking that this memorial of 
their having been there secures them the forgive- 
ness of their sins. 

. The Temple plateau, upon which the Mosque of 
Omar stands, is an irregular quadrangle almost a 
mile around. Much of it is artificial in its con- 
struction, and is a marvel in itself. We entered 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 211 

the mosque on the east, after having taken off our 
shoes, as the Mohammedans compel you to do at 
the entrance of all their mosques. The Mosque of 
Omar is an octagon 536 feet in circumference. 
The dome is 97 feet high. Many of the marble 
columns are curiously wrought, and together with 
many of the slabs in the side of the building, came 
no doubt from Solomon's temple. The light 
comes through richly-stained glass windows placed 
at the top where the dome begins. In the centre 
of the building is the bare native rock. This rock 
has the most wonderful history of any on the face 
of the earth. Here, it is believed, Abraham laid 
Isaac bound and ready for the sacrifice. Here 
Oman had his threshing floor when the angel ap- 
peared. Here David built an altar and offered 
burnt offerings. Here was the Holy of Holies in 
that greatest and grandest temple ever dedicated to 
God. Here man's hand has thrown down and de- 
stroyed the most sacred edifices ; but this rock is 
here, as it was in the days of Abraham. 

The Mohammedans have surrounded this rock 
with their own superstitions. They say from this 
rock Mahomet ascended to heaven. They show 
you the finger-marks of the angel Gabriel, who 
seized upon the rock to keep it from going with 



212 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

the false prophet. In confirmation of this tradition 
the traveler is shown the cave beneath the rock. 
They declare the rock is suspended in the air. Of 
course the sides where the rock rests are carefully 
concealed with plaster. In this cave Oman and 
his four sons no doubt hid themselves when they 
saw the angel of the Lord, (i Chron. xxi. 20.) 

At the entrance to the cave the guide points to a 
hole in the rock in which, properly concealed, are 
three hairs of the false prophet's beard. There 
were more originally, but the devil, say they, stole 
the others! 

There is a jasper slab in the floor to the north 
side of the mosque. If you put money on this slab 
you will be sure of going to heaven ! In this stone 
were nineteen golden nails. An angel has taken 
all but three away. When the last nail is gone, the 
world will come to an end! 

There is much in and about this holy place to 
be seen and contemplated. When the full light of 
day streams through the fifty-six gorgeous win- 
dows, the place is bathed in an almost unearthly 
splendor. I visited this mosque twice, and each 
time my reverence for the place increased. 
Leaving the mosque by the south door, where 
Christ had the conversation with regard to the 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 213 

tribute money, (Matt. xxii. 17-22,) we are on the 
temple porch. Beneath this are immense cisterns 
and caverns. Who knows what relics of the 
ancient temple may yet lie concealed here? Per- 
haps the Ark of the Covenant is there somewhere. 
There is no satisfactory proof that it was ever car- 
ried away. A few years ago the seal of Haggai, 
who was divinely commissioned more than 500 B. 
C. to restore the Lord's house, was found on a hill 
at the southern extremity of the temple platform. 

At the southern end of the Haram enclosure is 
a mosque which is supposed to have been built by 
Justinian in honor of the Virgin. It is now called 
the Mosque of El Aksa. This mosque is a large 
structure and is famous chiefly for its heterogene- 
ous material, some of which is very beautiful, and 
some very ordinary. Most of the columns here are 
no doubt from Solomon's temple. Many of them 
are now covered with plaster. Near the entrance 
to the mosque are the reputed tombs of Aaron's 
sons. Close to these tombs is a well which once 
afforded an entrance to Paradise to a man who 
went down. He brought with him a golden leaf 
and gave a wonderful account of what he saw, so 
the Mohammedans say. In the southeast part of 
the temple platform is the entrance to an interest- 



214 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

in^ place. Descending a flight of thirty-two steps 
we are shown the cradle of Christ, where it is said 
the infant Redeemer was laid after his presentation 
in the temple. Going a few steps farther we are in 
what is called "Solomon^s stables." There are no 
less than one hundred piers of solid masonr}^ which 
support the arches above them. Into the edges of 
many of the piers holes were bored, through which 
the Crusaders slipped their hitching-straps and tied 
their horses. Solomon never used the place for a 
stable. It may be that the whole structure was 
erected to support the temple porch above. That 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem frequently sought 
shelter here in times of siege, can hardly be 
doubted. In this place the conduit through which 
the blood of the sacrifice was washed into the Ke- 
dron is seen. In the southeast is a stone which had 
evidently been cut for a place in the temple; but 
for some reason it was thrown aside. It was after- 
wards placed into the corner of this structure. It 
is no doubt to this stone that Christ refers when he 
says, ''The stone which the builders rejected, the 
same is become the head of the corner." (Matt. 
xxi. 42f. ; Ps. cxviii. 22.) 

After leaving the temple area we come to the 
place where the houses of the I^evites stood. 



A WIN'TER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 215 

The better way from the Mosque of Omar to the 
church is by a gate opening on a narrow street, 
which leads past what was formerly supposed to 
be the Pool of Bethesda. This so-called Pool of 
Bethesda is almost seventy feet lower than the 
Haram south of it. The place is rapidly being 
iilled up with garbage, which emits an intolerable 
stench. This pool was probably supplied by water 
from the pools of Solomon, and never had any 
water of its own. It is more than probable that 
this pool once formed a moat for the Tower of An- 
tonia, which stood beside it. It was from this 
tower that Paul addressed the mob after he had 
been rescued by the chief captain (Acts xxi. 30- 
40; xxii.) 

Quite near this place the Via Dolorosa begins. 
This is supposed to be the street along which 
Christ bore the cross from Pilate's judgment hall 
to Golgotha. Fourteen sacred places are pointed 
out, all of which are connected with that awful 
journey. At one place a picture of Christ is shown 
on the wall. Here it is said St. Veronica gave her 
kerchif to Christ to wipe his face; when she again 
received it, there was an exact image of Christ's 
sorrowful face on it. This handkerchief is still in 
the possession of the Roman Catholic Church! 



2l6 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

At another place the spot where Christ sank to the 
ground beneath the weight of the cross is pointed 
out — then, further on, the spot where the cross- 
was laid on Simon. 

Far more interesting is the Catholic convent, in 
the chapel of which a very old arch is shown. On 
this arch Christ is said to have stood when Pilate 
said, "Behold the man." Whether this is the 
very arch is not certain ; but it is more prob- 
able that this was the arch than the one outside, 
spanning the street. The convent in itself is in- 
teresting, in as much as it forms an oasis of clean- 
liness in a veritable desert of filth. The bright 
girls in the orphanage are taught all the customs 
and usefulness of civilized life. The fancy work 
of these little ones and of the Sisters who have 
them in training is very fine. 

Outside of the court of the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre, are the ruins of the Hospice of the 
Knights of St. John. This was a vast structure, 
the greater part of which is in ruins. The stone 
buildings were constructed around a great open 
square. The second story of one wing of the large 
building is now used as a I^utheran church. On 
Easter Sabbath morning I heard the sweetest 
singing in this church I ever heard anywhere. 



A WINTEll JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 217 

The song was led by the orphan girls from the 
German Protestant home, "Talithi-Cumi." This 
church is attended by all German residents in 
the city, and by many visitors. The pastor de- 
livered a short, impressive and edifying sermon 
on Christ's resurrection. What made it doubly 
impressive was the fact that the event occurred 
near the spot where the preacher addressed us. 
About a dozen of the dark-eyed, red-cheeked little 
girls who sang, united with the church. I felt 
sure that if I could have had my congregation 
away in America look upon that Eastern scene, 
and then could have taken them to some home 
to behold the filth and learn the ignorance in 
which Mohammedan children are brought up, it 
would have preached them an eloquent missionary 
sermon. 

In the court of this church one can see portions 
of beautiful marble columns and capitals which are 
very old, perhaps from Solomon's temple, but the 
tooth of time has had little effect upon them. The 
hammer of the Vandal has done much more to de- 
face them. The vast cisterns beneath the courts 
and ruins no doubt contain some things of interest; 
but so far as I know they have never been ex- 
plored. 



2l8 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Leaving these grand old ruins, we step into the 
court of the most renowned church in Jerusalem. 
In front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a 
court which is always filled with men, women and 
children who sell glass beads, olive wood beads, 
glass bracelets, ivory and wooden crosses, combs, 
tapers and flowers. The building itself was erected 
in the nth century by the Crusaders. It was 
partly destroyed by fire in 1808. The present edi- 
fice is 230 feet wide from east to west, and 200 feet 
long from north to south. 

The first object of interest is the Anointing Slab, 
a piece of yellowish marble upon which Nicodemus 
anointed Christ prior to his putting him into his 
own new tomb. Pilgrims measure this stone and 
make their winding-sheets the same length. Not 
far from this stone, under an iron frame, is a round 
marble stone where Mary stood when Christ said 
^* Woman, behold thy son: Son, behold thy 
mother." Immediately under the great dome, 
which is 65 feet in diameter, is the Holy Sepulchre. 
It is of white marble, and is 26 feet long by 17 feet 
wide by 15 feet high. Outside are dozens of silver 
censers. Besides these I saw on Palm Sunday scores 
of tapers, all burning, producing a pleasing effect 
on the dim and smoky looking surroundings. An 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 219 

oil painting of the risen Christ is suspended imme- 
diately above the opening to the sepulchre. The 
chamber within is l6 feet long by 10 feet wide. 
This room is lighted by fifteen silver lamps — five 
belonging to the Latins, five to the Greeks, four to 
the Armenians, and one to the Copts. Here they 
show you a portion of the stone which the women 
found rolled away. Passing through a low door so 
narrow that only one at a time can enter, we come 
into a room 6 feet by 6. This is the sanctum 
sanctorum of the place. This is lighted by lamps 
of solid gold. A slab covers the real rock, in which 
is the reputed tomb of our Lord. Through a rent 
in the marble slab the holy fire comes on the Greek 
Easter. The slab is worn by millions of kisses 
which have been showered upon it. 

Not far from this sepulchre, in a dilapidated old 
chapel belonging to the Copts, are two very old 
Jewish tombs, which I must confess I approached 
and examined with more reverence than the chapel 
of the reputed sepulchre. To the west is a marble 
slab where Mary is said to have stood when she 
said to Jesus, supposing him to be a gardener, 
**Sir if thou have borne him hence, tell me where 
thou hast laid him.'^ In a chapel to the north of 
the sepulchre and fifteen feet above it are several 



220 A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

chapels. In the largest of these is a natural rock. 
In this rock is a silver socket, in which the cross is 
said to have rested. About five feet to the right 
and the same distance to the left, the position of 
the other two crosses is seen. The rock which 
was rent by the earthquake is here, too. In an 
iron grating is the marble pillar to which Christ 
was chained when he was scourged. Pilgrims 
take a long stick and touch this pillar, then kiss 
the end of the stick. The place where the cross 
was found, and the rock on which the Empress 
Helena sat watching the excavators in search of 
the cross, and from whence she threw coins to the 
workmen, is also shown. In short, the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre is a regular museum. Yet 
Christ may have been buried in one of these old 
tombs. That He was likewise crucified here is 
scarcely credible. 

One of the most sacrilegious farces which used to 
be enacted here, is now, by law, discontinued. I 
refer to the custom of receiving holy fire on the 
Greek Easter. The church used to be thronged 
on these occasions. The Greek Patriarch would, at 
the proper time, pass a lighted torch out of an ellip- 
tical hole in the marble wall of the Chapel of the 
Angels. This fire, it was claimed, was supernat- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 221 

ural and came from the empty tomb. The pil- 
grims would light their torches and burn their 
clothing, and scorch their hands, hoping to merit 
favor thereby from their risen Lord. 

Passing southward along Christian street, we go 
out Zion Gate. Not far from Zion Gate is the 
Armenian monastery, which is said to cover the site 
of the house of Caiaphas. Here they show you the 
footprints of the cock that crew (!) when Peter de- 
nied his Lord. The place where Peter stood is 
pointed out with the utmost precision ! Not far 
from this is the place where Christ is said to have 
instituted the Holy Communion. They show you 
the very table which was used on the occasion. No 
one believes these lies, but it is well to mention 
that these fellows have unbounded confidence in 
the credulity of pilgrims and tourists. 

Here is the tomb of David. There is very little 
doubt that the ashes of more than a dozen of 
Israel's illustrious kings sleep near here. The 
** Castle of Zion" was the royal residence of David, 
and when he died "he was buried in the city of 
David." (i Kings ii, lo). When Nehemiah was 
rebuilding the walls of the city he refers to the sep- 
ulchres of David (Nehemiah iii. 15 and 16). From 
the writings of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, it is 



222 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 

learned that a Christian Church once stood here. 
The foundations of this building are very ancient. 
The stones have the Jewish bevel, and are held 
together with stone knobs and sockets. Over 
the reputed tomb is an upper room to which vis- 
itors are admitted. This is the room I have men- 
tioned as the place where the Holy Supper was in- 
stituted. Here, too, the Holy Ghost is said to 
have come upon the disciples on the day of Pente- 
cost. The tradition is nearly as old as the Chris- 
tian religion. 

This is a sacred locality, and carefully guarded 
by the Turks. Dr. De Hass speaks of having en- 
tered the crypt beneath the room described. * In 
this crypt is a door with an oval top. The Turks 
say persons who attempted to enter here were 
struck with blindness. In consequence, the door 
was walled shut many years ago. There is an 
Arabic inscription over the door saying, ''This is 
the gate to heaven." Some day that masonry 
will be taken down, and who knows what mys- 
teries the space beyond may reveal ! 

This brief description of sacred places would be 
entirely too incomplete, were I not to mention the 



-^Buried Cities," p. 178. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 223 

Church of St. Ann, and the Pool of Bethesda be- 
hind it. This church was built in honor of the 
mother of the Virgin Mary in the time of the 
Crusaders. The church stands in a court (a 
yard we Americans would say) which is adorned 
with flowers and piles of broken columns and 
statuary found in the excavations. Going down 
21 steps, the traveler is in the crypt, where the 
Virgin is said to have been born. The church be- 
longs to the Roman Catholics, and is furnished 
with movable chairs and benches. 

Far more interesting is the Pool of Bethesda, a 
few rods to the west. It is without doubt the pool 
of which the Evangelist speaks. (John v. 2.) 
The pool is now deep down in the earth. The 
lowest masonry is of Jewish origin. Above this is 
Roman masonry; then the Crusaders built an arch 
above this, and lastly the Turks. Below it all is 
the water. The remains of the five porches are to 
be seen. Standing on the lowest level, I felt al- 
most confident that I stood where Christ once 
stood, and where He manifested the power of God 
in healing the impotent man. 

I must close this chapter by reminding the 
reader that the glory of Jerusalem is in its ruins, 
and not in the achievements of its present people. 



224 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

Bvery where within the walls in its present places 
of interest, and beyond the walls on the Mount of 
Olives, in its tombs, its pools, and even in the 
countless mosaics which lie scattered over the soil 
for miles around Jerusalem, is written the story of 
its ancient greatness. In these ruins is recorded 
the fact that the city lies low but mighty in the 
dust. 

The streets of the present Jerusalem are narrow 
as they no doubt always were. Immediately 
within the Jaffa gate, around the tower of David, 
which is now a citadel as it always was, and the 
foundations of which date back to the time of 
Israel's greatest monarch, there is a beautiful open 
place, and the street running south is wide. Here 
on this place the American Consul has his office, 
but we never found him in. 

The two principal thoroughfares are David's 
street and Christian street. They are so narrow 
that two buggies could not pass each other. 

The Turkish post-office is on David's street. It 
looks like a second class barber-shop. The post- 
master hands you all the letters to let you see if 
there is anything for you. As soon as the mail 
comes in, he sends European and American letters 
to Bergenheimer'Sj'^the banker's. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 225 

One sees no vehicles of any kind on the streets. 
Now and then a ''ship of the desert" strides ma- 
jestically along. The quick and sure-footed little 
donkey brings his load of vegetables or a few dead 
sheep on his back to the markets. The markets 
are kept in bazaars or niches of the houses, and on 
the streets. Peasants come from the surrounding 
country with onions, leeks, salads, potatoes, eggs, 
chickens, olives, almonds and sheep. They crowd 
the narrow streets and jabber and gesticulate from 
morning to night. 

There are bazaars filled with very fine goods. 
The olive wood curiosities are very pretty. Al- 
most every thing imaginable is made out of olive 
wood and sold here as souvenirs. The articles 
made of mother of pearl are also very fine, but 
Bethlehem is the headquarters for all mother of 
pearl goods. 
15 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A walk about Zion — View from Olivet — Mosque of the Ascen- 
sion — "Czar's Church" — Gethsemane — Virgin's Tomb — ^The 
Kedron — Absalom's Pillar — Tombs — Bnrogel — Pools of Gihon 
— Quarries of Solomon^ — Golgotha — Church of St. Stephen — 
Tombs of the Kings — Tombs of the Judges — King's Wine- 
presses — Land of Wonders. 

There was more to be seen to impress the be- 
holder with thellbeauty and grandeur of the places 
and objects about the Holy City when Solomon sat 
upon the throne of Israel than now ; but a walk 
about Zion is of interest in our own day. The 
best place from which to view the environments of 
Jerusalem is from the Russian observatory on the 
summit of Olivet. The top of this tower is 3000 
feet above the level of the sea. The view is sub- 
lime. To the east you look over a stretch of bar- 
ren mountains and deep waddies into the Jordan 
valley. The Jordan glistens like a ribbon of silver 
(where the vegetation on its banks does not hide 
the water) as it winds on its way to the Dead Sea. 
And there, stretching away to the south like a 
great mass of dark blue sky come down to earth, is 
(226) 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 22/ 

the Dead Sea. From one of those mountain peaks 
which border the sea, Moses looked upon the 
Promised I^and. At the extreme north of the 
view of the valley, one sees the site of ancient Jer- 
icho, that monument placed by the power of God 
to the triumphs of faith. To the west you look 
down upon Jerusalem; whilst beyond you see the 
road as it winds toward Joppa. To the north yovL 
see the road that leads to Damascus. Almost im- 
mediately in front of Olivet is the hill from which; 
Titus first beheld the city, when he began that 
memorable siege in which a million Jews perished, 
and the Holy City was razed to its foundations. 

We descend the tower, and on going down the 
mount we come first to the place from which Christ 
is said to have ascended to heaven. You enter a 
court-yard through a gate. In the yard there is a 
Mohammedan prayer-house built over a rock from 
which Christ arose. The foot-print of the Saviour 
is shown on the rock. The Arabs are there to col- 
lect backshish^ and for them the place has as much 
interest as if Christ had really ascended from the 
spot, which is doubted by the best critics. 

The new Russian church built by the Czar is not 
far from the place of the Ascension. The church 
is the finest modern place of worship in Palestine. 



228 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

It is a Greek mosque, and is noted for its paint- 
ings, rich robes and altar drapings. In excavating 
for the foundations of this church, skulls, tear bot- 
tles, and bottles which once contained perfumery 
or anointing oil, were found. These curiosities 
are carefully preserved and shown to visitors. 
What astonished me more than the architecture of 
the building or its fine furnishings was the fact 
that the polite sexton refused backshish. He is the 
only man in Palestine who refused backshish. We 
had, however, scarcely gotten out of the church be- 
fore an Arab wanted to show us down the hill, but 
we knew the way as well as he. Then he wished 
to bring us a drink, but we refused; then he called 
for backshish. When you pass these people on the 
street they ask you for backshish. When they see 
you at a distance they come holding out their 
hands crying backshish. 

At the foot of Olivet is the garden of Geth- 
semane. Just outside the gate there are three flat 
rocks, which are pointed out as the places where 
the three disciples slept whilst Jesus prayed. A 
broken column at the gate is said to mark the spot 
where Judas betrayed his Master with a kiss. The 
garden itself is surrounded by a picket fence. In- 
side this fence is a pebble walk about six feet wide. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC 1.ANDS. 229 

Then there is an iron fence, beyond which are 
roses and other pretty flowers. In the square en- 
closed by the iron fence are eight old olives, one ot 
which is nineteen feet in circumference. These 
trees are no doubt from the roots of those which 
stood in the time of Christ. I say, "from the 
roots," because Josephus says Titus destroyed all 
the trees. The article in the Sunday-school Times 
published recently, trying to prove that this cannot 
be the site of Gethsemane, makes much ado about 
nothing. Whilst this may not be the precise spot 
of our Lord's agony, it can not be far removed. 
What a place this garden is for holy thoughts and 
renewed consecration to the Master's service ! It 
was here somewhere that the seen and unseen 
worlds met. Here was worked out man's salva- 
tion, and on Calvary it was finished. Here angels 
*' sweetly soothed the Saviour's woe," after the 
awful contest with the powers of darkness. 

After leaving the garden of Gethsemane, we go 
nearly due north about one hundred yards to the 
Virgin's tomb. Several flights of steps lead down 
a distance of thirty-five feet into a chapel cut out 
of solid rock. This chapel is eighteen feet wide 
and ninety feet long. It is illuminated with doz- 
ens of solid silver lamps. Here the tomb of the 



230 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

parents of the Virgin is to be seen. Near this 
tomb is a sarcophagus which is said to contain the 
ashes of Mary. There is a spring of water in the 
tomb, which in itself is almost a miracle in this 
country. Whether the ashes of those mentioned 
really repose here, no one knows and few care, but 
it is an interesting place to visit. 

We are now in the valley of the Kedron. In the 
days of Christ the ravine was much deeper. Cap- 
tain Warren, of the "Palestine Exploration Fund," 
discovered the original channel of the Kedron 
eighty feet below the surface. No wonder Jose- 
ph us said that it made one dizzy to stand upon the 
wall of Jerusalem and look down into the ravine 
below. The height is still great, but not so great 
as it wns before, the debris of the thrice-destroyed 
city was gathered in the valley. Ivooking down 
the Kedron valley we see the tomb of Absalom. 
This is a cube about twenty feet high, surmounted 
by a pyramid of solid stone about ten feet high. 
The whole is cut out of the solid native rock. 
The chamber inside is nearly full of stqnes, thrown 
there out of contempt of the ashes said to repose 
within. This is without doubt the place where 
the rebellious son was buried, and over these rocks 
David clambered when he fled from Jerusalem. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 23 1 

Further south are three other remarkable tombs, 
respectively called the tomb of Jehoshaphat, the 
grotto of St. James, and the tomb of Hezekiah. 
The first two are excavations in the solid rock, 
the front being ornamented by a cornice, also cut 
out of the same rock. The tomb of Hezekiah re- 
sembles that of Absalom. The whole hillside op- 
posite the city is a burial place for the Jews. 
They come here to die and to be buried from al- 
most every land, because they think the Messiah, 
when he comes, will enter the city from this hill, 
and first raise the dead here. The well of Job, at 
the extreme end of the Kedron valley, is the only 
well in all this district of country. The Pool of 
Siloam, to which Christ sent the blind man to 
wash, is south of Jerusalem, at the point where 
the Tyropean valley enters that of the Kedron. 
Remnants of the old wall, which was doubtless 
put there in the time of David, are still to be seen. 
The larger and lower pool is almost filled with 
stones and rubbish. 

The valley of Hinnom comes down from the 
west of Jerusalem, and unites at Knrogel with the 
Kedron. Here is the place where Adonijah, when 
David was old, made a great feast for the king's 
servants and men of Judah (i Kings, i. 9). The 



232 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

valley of Hinnom is the Gehenna in which they 
burned the rubbish. It divides Mount Zion from 
the Hill of Evil Counsel. Upon this hill, it is said, 
the dwelling of Caiaphas stood, where he took 
counsel with the Jews how he might put Jesus to 
death — hence the name Evil Counsel. Half way 
up the hill is the ''Field of Blood," bought with 
the " thirty pieces of silver." 

In this valley, southwest from Jerusalem, is the 
lower Pool of Gihon. It is forty feet deep, and 
covers nearly three acres of ground. It was capa- 
ble of holding nineteen million gallons of water. 
The water was probably used for the gardens 
which once abounded in this valley. The upper 
Pool of Gihon is about a quarter of a mile west of 
the Joppa Gate. This pool is smaller than the 
other, and not half as deep. It was close to this 
pool that Zadok and Nathan anointed Solomon 
king of Israel. 

Leaving these wonderful ruins on the west, we 
bend our steps nearly due northeast toward the 
Damascus Gate, so called because the road from 
Damascus enters the Holy City by this gate. A 
little to the northeast of this gate is a small door in 
the hillside. In 1852 Dr. Barclay's dog dis- 
appeared in this opening. One night Dr. Barclay 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 235 

and his two sons entered this opening with candles 
and cords and solved what had been a mystery for 
years, the question as to where Solomon obtained 
his stones for the temple. The quarry is 3000 feet 
in circumference, and in some places is thirty feet 
deep. The chippings of the ancient workmen are 
still here. So are the black marks of their torches 
on the ceiling. It is estimated that enough stone 
has been taken out of these quarries to build two 
Jerusalems. The stone is white as chalk and very 
soft, but hardens on exposure to the sun. Free 
Masons claim that their noble order originated in 
these caverns among Solomon's masons. The 
manner in which these ancient masons cut the 
stone is seen. They had an instrument like an 
adz with which they cut a groove into the rocks, 
then they put a wooden wedge into the groove and 
wetted it. This caused the wedge to swell and 
burst the rock from its bed. There was an opening 
near the temple through which the stones were 
lifted. The quarries are opposite the grotto of 
Jeremiah, where the prophet is said to have writ- 
ten that wonderful book, some of the sayings of 
which are even now being fulfilled. Above the 
grotto is a Mohammedan cemetery. The highest 
and most rugged point is believed to be the spot 



234 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

where the Son of God was crucified. This answers 
the Evangelists' description, and is no doubt the 
place. 

•To the northeast of the city is the newly exca- 
vated church of St. Stephen. A few years ago a 
poor Greek was excavating here for a new house, 
when he came upon a beautiful mosaic floor. The 
Roman Catholic church paid him $10,000 for the 
lot, and continued the excavation. They laid bare 
the floor of an immense church, which must have 
been erected before the days of the Crusaders. 
Underneath are tombs having Christian emblems, 
similar to those seen in the catacombs at Rome. 
Here are seen stone doors with stone hinges, and 
great round stones, which were rolled before the 
door, as in the days, of Christ. Who knows but 
that St. Stephen was stoned and then reverently 
interred on the site marked by this ancient edifice ? 

The so-called "Tombs of the Kings" are about 
half a mile north from the Damascus Gate. 
These tombs were discovered in digging a cistern. 
The workmen came upon a large stone coffin con- 
taining human remains. This coffin stood in the 
midst of a vast chamber hewn out of the solid rock. 
There was no name upon it, but it is said to have 
contained valuable jewels. Near this place, as we 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 235 

have just learned in this chapter, once stood the 
grand church of St. Stephen. The beautiful Bu- 
docia, wife of Theodosius II., died here. The re- 
mains in the sarcophagus may have been those of 
the unfortunate queen, or of the martyred Stephen 
himself. 

The tomb is enclosed in a yard with a high 
board fence. We knocked at the gate, when a 
woman opened from within, and after giving us 
tapers we went down a flight of broad stone steps 
into a large chamber. In the centre was a large 
cistern — at least the room was filled with water. 
Turning to the left we entered the chamber 
where the sarcophagus was found. From the main 
chamber there are passages leading into many 
smaller rooms or crypts. The passages into these 
are narrow and low, and it is with difiiculty that 
the tourist gains entrance. There are four smaller 
chambers in all. The bodies were laid on niches, 
or shelves, cut out of the rock. Others were in- 
serted, as loaves are put into an oven. These open- 
ings were closed with stones and sealed. The en- 
tire tomb must at one time have contained 75 
bodies. The tomb may have been constructed 
during successive generations, inasmuch is it was 
easy to cut successive chambers even after the dead 



236 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

were deposited in the first chamber. This is alto- 
gether the largest and finest rock-hewn tomb I saw 
in Palestine. 

About a mile northwest from this tomb is 
another which is known as the "Tombs of the 
Judges." The outside of this tomb is decorated 
with a cornice cut into the face of the rock. The 
vestibule is twelve feet wide, and is ornamented 
with vines and flowers and figures. The place is 
often used as a shelter for Bedouin Arabs. Their 
fires have blackened the walls. Here, as at the 
Tombs of the Kings, there is one large chamber 
(about twenty feet square) from which there are 
entrances into the smaller chambers or vaults. It 
is very probable that those who once judged Israel, 
before Saul was anointed king, slept for many 
years here. The hand of the Vandal long since 
scattered their ashes and carried off the treasures 
which were buried with them. Truly they have 
brought out "the bones of his princes, and the 
bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, 
and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out 
of their graves," and have "spread them before 
the sun." 

Not far from the Tombs of the Judges is the 
"King's Wine-press." This is the king's wine- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 237 

press to which Zechariah refers in his prophecy, 
and of which the next chapter of this volume treats. 
The wine-presses were cnt into the solid rock. 
Here the grapes were trodden in the times of vint- 
age more than twenty-three centuries ago. The 
large stone vats are to be seen where the juice fer- 
mented. Near by are the immense cisterns in 
which the wine was stored. The whole establish- 
ment, vats, cisterns and all, is cut out of the solid 
rock, and is a marvel of ancient workmanship. 

This whole country is a land of wonders and 
sacred associations. In this land, among these 
people, God prepared a religion for mankind which 
is more enduring than these rock-hewn tombs, and 
the blessings of which are being inherited by the 
nations which were as yet unborn when these 
tombs were new. God grant that these people, the 
ashes of whose ancestors repose here, may ere long 
be led to receive Him as their Saviour, whom their 
fathers rejected. Then this country, we firmly be- 
lieve, will once more blossom as the rose. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Fulfilment of Prophecy — Spirit of Improvement in the City — 
Industrial School— Jeremiah xxxii. 38-40 — The New Jerusal 
em — Zechariah xiv. 10— Characteristics of the New Town — 
Conversion of Jews. 

In walking about Jerusalem one is impressed 
with the fact that at last the spirit of progress is 
being felt in the Holy City. Sewers are being dug, 
new streets are being opened, and new buildings, 
many of them possessing all the modern improve- 
ments, are being erected. It will not be long be- 
fore the shriek of the locomotive will be heard on 
the plains of Sharon and in the mountains of 
Judea, as it brings the comforts, the commerce, 
and the pilgrims of the civilized nations *'up to 
the mountain of the Lord." 

If the spirit of improvement is seen within the 
walls, it is still more manifest beyond those walls. 
There is literally a new Jerusalem going up out- 
side the walls. Beginning at the Jaffa gate and 
extending along the Jaffa road for a mile, it widens 
on the first eminence beyond the upper pool of 
Gihon into a beautiful town. The houses in this 

(238) 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 239 

new town are larger and much more comfortable 
than those in the old city. The streets are wider, 
and the blocks of buildings are in regular squares. 
Here and there a stone wall is seen enclosing rows 
of trees, which will in a few years develop into 
shady parks. The inhabitants of this new town, 
though Jews, are different from those who dwell in 
the "Jews' Quarter," in filth and poverty, on 
Mount Zion, within the walls of the city. On the 
Jaffa road there is a large industrial school, where 
the Jewish youths are taught any trade to which 
they may incline. This new Jerusalem will have 
first-class mechanics of every description. There 
are no less than ten such colonies in Palestine to- 
day, and of all these none is more flourishing than 
the colony at Jerusalem. Rothschild and those 
who are assisting him are doing a good work 
among their countrymen. 

But is not this development of the country, and 
this lifting of the Jews, under the guiding hand of 
the God of nations? Is He not fulfilling the prom- 
ises made unto the fathers many centuries ago? 
In the reign of Zedekiah, more than five centuries 
before Christ, the Lord causes Jeremiah to say : 
"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the 
city (referring to Jerusalem) shall be built to the 



240 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

lyord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of 
the corner, and the measuring line shall yet go out 
straight onward unto the hill Gareb and shall turn 
about unto Goah. And the whole valley of the 
dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields, 
unto the brook Kedron, unto the corner of the 
horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the 
Ivord ; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down 
any more for ever." Jer. xxxi. 38-40. In all the 
rebuildings of the city after the successive destruc- 
tions by Chaldean, Roman and Turk, the words of 
the prophet were never fulfilled. The new city 
which we have briefly described follows in its con- 
struction the district indicated by the prophet. 
Only a year or two ago, when the foundations for 
the "New Hotel," near the Joppa gate, where be- 
ing dug, the workmen came upon the top of an 
old tower. There is good reason for supposing this 
to be the tower of Hananeel. The ancient hill 
Gareb is west of Jerusalem. It is upon this hill 
that the substantial and comfortable houses we 
have mentioned are erected. The "valley of the 
dead bodies" is distinctly marked by tombs of un- 
doubted antiquity, and is in direct line of these 
modern improvements. It is to this same rebuild- 
ing of Jerusalem that Zechariah refers (in the xiv. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 24 1 

chapter and loth verse of his prophecy) when he 
says : ^'It shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her 
place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the 
first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower 
of Hananeel unto the king's wine-presses." The 
king's wine-presses were discovered a few years 
ago, not far from the Tomb of the Judges. The 
buildings of this new city will no doubt in a few 
years cover this place even "unto the ashes." 
"The ashes" refers to the ashes of the sacrifices, 
which, according to Levit. vi. 11, were carried 
forth by the priest to a clean place without the 
camp. When the sacrifices w^ere no longer offered 
in the tabernacle, the law was observed by carry- 
ing them, after the manner prescribed, beyond the 
city walls. There were two places to which these 
ashes were transported. Some years ago these 
ashes formed immense heaps. One of these is now 
entirely used up in the making of mortar, and the 
place is covered with new buildings. The other is 
fully identified, to the north of the Damascus gate, 
and is also rapidly disappearing. At the present 
rate of building, it will not be many years before 
the new city covers every foot of the territory de- 
scribed by the prophets mentioned. The places of 
the ancient gates mentioned are not easily identi- 
16 



243 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. 

fied, but the other landmarks are determined by a 
precision which admits of no doubt. 

This new city is characterized by the fact that 
*' it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any 
more forever." The city, which has often been 
overthrown, is now built to remain. The Jew who 
returns to this new Jerusalem in the land of ^his 
fathers, needs fear no captivity. There shall be no 
besieging armies. The gates of the city shall be 
open continually : "they shall not be shut day nor 
night." Christ will be King there ; but the man- 
ner of His presence is, we think, not revealed. 

The land in the districts described, with little 
exception, belongs to the Jews, and more of it is 
being purchased by them every year. This land is 
paid for by individuals or societies, and is secured 
to the purchaser by the necessary legal documents. 
All this is in strict accordance with what Jeremiah 
says: "Men shall buy fields for money and sub- 
scribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, 
in the land of Benjamin and in the places about 
Jerusalem," etc. Jer. xxxii. 44. It is not many 
years since lands were bought and sold in this way, 
and this simple business transaction is in itself a 
striking fulfillment of prophecy. 

Everybody knows that the Jews are returning in 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 243 

large numbers to this, the home of their fathers. 
The fact is frequently commented upon, but the 
full extent of this ingress is not realized by those 
who live thousands of miles from Jerusalem. In 
1882, for the first time since the captivity, two 
hundred of the tribe of Gad came to Jerusalem. * 

They were in extreme poverty, and were be- 
friended by Christian missionaries in Jerusalem^. 
One of those who saw them and helped them, told* 
me that they could give no reason for their comb- 
ing other than they felt a strong and unaccountable 
incentive to come. The first party numbered only 
one hundred and fifty; now there are nearly one 
thousand of them in the new city; and what is 
more, many of them have homes of their own. 
These, and their brethren, are rapidly displacing 
other nationalities in Jerusalem. Formerly no Jew 
was allowed to transact business in the Holy City. 

The question arises, how can Palestine support 
a dense population with its bare and unproductive 
mountains ? The soil is literally washed from the 
hillsides by the rains of centuries, leaving the bare 
rocks to glare in the sunlight. The narrow val- 
leys are fertile. The whole plain of Jericho could 

*I am indebted to the "Americans" for some facts herein 
mentioned. 



344 ^ WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

be made productive, if it were properly irrigated 
from the Jordan. Before God took away the lat- 
ter rains, flocks grazed by the thousands on the 
mountain sides. From the terraced! hill-sides and 
the valleys the husbandman carried the finest of 
wheat to Jerusalem. The plains of Esdraelon and 
Sharon were once gardens of fertility and love- 
liness. For centuries God withheld the latter 
rains. Now some rain falls in June, July, and 
even August, I am told by those who live there. 
Bach year in the last decade this rainfall in- 
creases. 

The Jews who come to Palestine are not Chris- 
tians. But has not God said, ''I will cleanse 
them from all their iniquity?" We firmly be- 
lieve that the time is not far distant when the 
kingdom shall be restored to Israel and Israel to 
the kingdom. Then "they shall teach no more 
every man his neighbor, and every man his 
brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall 
know me, from the least of them unto the great- 
est of them, saith the Lord." How God will 
bring about this great change, we, in our short 
and imperfect vision, can not fully discern ; but 
the conversion of this people is as sure as his 
promises. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 245 

God has kept the Jews a peculiar people in 
all the years which have elapsed since they cruci- 
fied his Son. Although they have been dispersed 
to every quarter of the globe, they are likewise 
among the aristocracy of every land. They are 
to-day among the erudites of the world. They 
have to this day their hands in the largest manu- 
factories, and control to a great extent the money 
market of the world. Think you that God will 
not overrule all this to the glory of that Son they 
once despised? Will not ere long their talents 
and their wealth be used in the interests of the 
Cross? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Leprosy — Where seen — Cries — Story of B. Daughan — Ancient 
mode of treating Lepers — Modern Leper Home — Aim of Fritz 
Mtiller — Cause — Contagion . 

Every visitor to the holy city is familiar with 
the sad, hoarse cry of the leper. Even before he 
gets to Jerusalem he is apt to see these poor crea- 
tures, and hear their continuous wail of ^'' Leprotcs^ 
Hawwafee^ Muskeeno^ Backshish'''' — "I am a 
leper, gentlemen. I am poor. A present." If he 
visits the ''Tower of the Forty Martyrs," just out- 
side of Ramleh, he can nearly always see a small 
company of these outcasts amid the ruins. They 
have no other home. They have been expelled 
from the village, to subsist upon what they can beg 
or gather in the fields. Outside of the I^eper Home 
at Jerusalem, I have seen groups of lepers sitting 
around a kettle, in which they boiled, for their 
amusement more than to gratify their appetites, 
grass and herbs which they had gathered from the 
plain around the Home. The superintendent of 
the hospital told me that they are so in the habit 

(246) . 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 247 

of this that it now is a source of pleasure ; but 
before they entered the Home it was a necessity. 

At Jerusalem there are three places where the 
lepers principally congregate. The largest crowd 
is to be seen on the road from Jerusalem to Beth- 
any, just outside of the Garden of Gethsemane, 
and where the road leads from the main thorough- 
fare to the "Virgin's Tomb." There is another 
rendezvous near the Pool of Siloam, and still an- 
other near the Jaffa Gate, on the road to Bethlehem. 

As soon as they see the traveler approach they 
set up the most piteous cries. They generally sit 
by the road-side, in the hot broiling sun. If the 
passer by pays no attention to them they will 
gather their ragged garments about them and 
approach, exhibiting their diseased parts. The 
sight of these miserable creatures is indelibly fixed 
on my mind. I can see them yet. Some of them 
had great horrid spots in their faces. The nose, 
or the cheek, or chin of some was entirely gone. 
Others hobbled along on crutches — a limb gone or 
so diseased that it was useless. Some of them 
were barefooted, their toes partly gone, and some 
had their feet tied up in rags. 

Of all diseases leprosy is the most loathsome. 
The bones and the very marrow are pervaded by 



248 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

the awful malady. The members of the body 
literally fall off, and the patient may well be called 
a "walking tomb." 

The Mosaic law concerning the disease was very 
rigid. The leper was excluded from the camp, 
and consequently from the tabernacle. The per- 
son was dead to the State and the family when 
once the priest pronounced the disease leprosy. 
Even kings were dethroned and shut out from 
society when it was found that this dread disease 
had begun its ravages. 

This exclusion is still observed in Eastern coun- 
tries. Elias Daughan, an Arabian evangelist, re- 
lates a touching anecdote concerning two leprous 
boys, which I subjoin in his own words : 

"In the first half of June, two leprous boys, 
about ten or twelve years old, appeared one morn- 
ing at the asylum and begged to be admitted. 
They had traveled the night through on foot from 
Ramleh (30 miles away). It was very touching to 
see these innocent youths attacked at the very en- 
trance of life by the dread, destructive disease. Still 
more touching was the story of their short lives. 
Mr. Miiller asked the first about his parents, and 
whether they had given their assent to his recep- 
tion into the asylum. Crying pitifully, he an- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 249 

swered, amid sobs, that his father had recently 
died, and his mother had mercilessly turned him 
out of the house and driven him away from his 
brothers and sisters. He now has no Home ; no 
one cares for him, no man's house and no man's 
heart stand open to him. The second was calmer, 
from longer experience of similarly heartless de- 
sertion. ''My parents," said he, "drove me out 
of the house more than two years ago, and since 
then they have troubled themselves no more about 
me."* 

In ancient times leper villages were located out- 
side of the city gates, and in districts away from 
the main thoroughfares. In the East some of these 
villages are still in existence. Here the wretched 
creatures dragged out their miserable existence 
amidst surroundings and sufferings indescribable. 
The spiritual life was impure as the physical was 
diseased. Hospitals for their relief seem to have 
been unknown in ancient times. In the first years 
of the Christian era the Church endeavored to fol- 
low in the footsteps of the Master. Gregory Nazi- 
anzen speaks of a hospital at Csesarea. 

Even in the middle ages, when superstition put 

* Eighteenth Report of Leper Home, 1889, p. 11. 



250 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

out the light of holy love in human hearts, the 
leper was not forgotten. In Jerusalem there was a 
female Order called St. Lazarus. This Order did 
much for the victims of the awful disease. After 
this Order ceased its work, lepers were left to their 
own devices and to gifts sent them by friends, 
which at most were few. 

In our day there are asylums and hospitals 
wherever the disease has found a home. Up 
amidst the ice and snow of Norway, down under 
the burning suns of Africa, and in far-away India, 
Christian men and women are spending and being 
spent for the amelioration of the woes of the leper. 
But it is of Jerusalem lepers I am writing, and 
therefore I must speak of what is being done for 
them there. 

I well remember the first time I visited the 
Leper Home, north of the road to Bethlehem and 
about a mile from Jerusalem. I had a letter 
of introduction to the superintendent, Mr. Fritz 
Miiller, given me by a friend in my own city. 
I was anxious to know how he would receive me. 
But I had no sooner presented myself than I was 
conscious that I had found a new friend. Such 
disinterested friendship as Mr. Miiller showed me 
during my stay of three weeks in Jerusalem I had 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 25 1 

never before seen. A number of times I went 
through the large building from cellar to house- 
top. In my visits I could not help but contrast 
the cleanliness and comparative contentment of 
the lepers in this institution with the suffering 
and despair along the roadside in the places I 
have mentioned. 

Brother Miiller and his estimable wife are as- 
sisted in their self-denying work by two sisters 
of. the Moravian church, under whose auspices 
the hospital was built, and by whose benevolence 
it is largely supported. These sisters and broth- 
ers have literally forsaken all and followed Him 
whose meat and drink it was to do his Father's 
will. Every day they cleanse the wounds of the 
patients and put fresh bandages around them. 
Every morning Mr. Miiller calls them to the 
chapel and reads and prays for them. These four 
people cook the food, wash, and do all the nursing 
for the inmates, of whom there are at present only 
seventeen; but there is room in the building for 
seventy. It requires great patience, not a little 
endurance, and much grace, for these refined peo- 
ple to nurse and care for these degraded and 
awfully afflicted people, and yet one of these sis- 
ters said to me, "How I wish I could do more 
for my Master." 



252 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

The great aim of Mr. Miiller and his assistants 
is not to cure leprosy, for so far no cure has been 
effected; but it is to ease the sufferings of the 
patients, and above all to lead them to Him who 
did not disregard the leper's cry when He was 
on earth. In both these respects they have ad- 
mirably succeeded. The Superintendent in speak- 
ing of the death of one of the inmates, says: ** We 
have seen many die in this manner. We rejoice 
in the assurance that many have died in the faith 
of Jesus Christ and entered] into the joy of their 
Lord." 

Some who have never seen leprosy suppose that 
the disease brings with it very little pain. Quite 
the contrary is true. Whilst the moral faculties 
are blunted, and the patient in the last stages is 
somewhat stupid, the sufferings are intense. Nor 
do these sufferings continue for a few months only. 
They are generally prolonged through years, in- 
creasing in intensity as the disease progresses. . 

Is leprosy the result of an immoral life? This 
question is often asked. Mr. Miiller says it is not. 
Leprosy, it is said, does not as a rule make its 
appearance before the age of fifteen nor after fifty. 
There are, however, exceptions, as we have al- 
ready seen. Filth, uncleanliness of every descrip- 
tion, greatly foster the disease. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. 253 

It is likewise an open question whether leprosy 
is contagious. It is unquestionably hereditary. 
Of all the Moravians who have worked among 
lepers, not one has ever taken the disease. After 
the First Crusade, leprosy was disseminated 
through Europe. For many centuries it prevailed 
to a frightful extent, but it may have been propa- 
gated through inheritance and not by contagion. 
In Palestine it has been known ever since Israel 
brought it there. It is now confined to the Ara- 
bians, with few exceptions. We cannot be too 
liberal in our gifts to leper hospitals where pious 
Europeans, and a few natives, literally give their 
own lives in alleviating the sufiferings of the 
afflicted. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Road to Jericho — Bethany — House of Simon the leper — ^Tomb 
of lyazarus — Arab guide — Road, dangers of— View — Arab road 
makers — "Apostles' Fountain " — Ivunch — Dangers — ^View — 
Monastery — Brook Cherith — Modern Jericho and Jericho of 
Herod — Kahn — Ride to Dead Sea — On its Shores — Drift-wood 
—Ivife— Cities of the Plain— The ride to the Jordan— The 
river — Pilgrims — Bathing — The return ride — Gilgal— Ancient 
Jericho — Ruins — Mount of Temptation — Monastery — Reflec- 
tions. 

AS long as I live I will remember the most won- 
derful ride I took in Palestine. The morning 
was bright and clear, within a day of the vernal 
equinox. After selecting a horse from among the 
twenty which were fastened along the stone wall 
in front of the "Jerusalem Hotel," we started. 
There were a dozen tourists and as many drago- 
men and servants. We formed quite a cavalcade 
as we wound along the road down to the walls of 
Jerusalem. We went along the northern wall of 
the city, taking the road which beyond the north- 
ern extremity of Jerusalem passes over the Kedron 
and along the Garden of Gethsemane. Then it 
winds toward the east around the foot of Olivet. 

(254) 



A WINTER JATTNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 255 

In half an hour we were at Bethany, once the 
home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. 

The house of Simon the leper is still shown on 
the hillside outside of the village. It is difficult to 
tell how old the rough stone wall of an ordinary 
building may be; but we felt quite sure that this 
ruin was not over ten centuries old. Not far from 
this ruin is the reputed tomb of Lazarus. After 
procuring tapers, the traveler descends a distance of 
about fifteen feet below the level of the street into 
a chapel or ante-chamber. About ten feet lower 
is a grotto cut into the solid rock. Inasmuch as 
"it was a cave" where they laid him, this may 
have been the very spot where Christ performed 
the stupendous miracle. 

The town of Bethany is in itself small and unin- 
teresting. The houses are low, and of course 
wholly composed of stones. There are no chim- 
neys on the roofs. When the people have fire, the 
smoke escapes on the ground through a sort of a 
conduit opening into the street, or there is no es- 
cape or draft except through the door. At Beth- 
any we received our Arab guide. These Arabs, 
who are all of the Abu Dis tribe, always accom- 
pany travelers from Jerusalem to Jericho. They 
are thieves themselves, but they are paid liberally 



256 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

for their services, and at the end of the trip always 
demand an additional backsheesh. The road is 
still infested by thieves, as it was in the days of 
Christ. This single Arab, with his sword by his 
side, is the insignia of safety. 

A little beyond Bethany the traveler has a fine 
view of the road he is about to go, as it winds over 
hill and dale. The Romans constructed most of 
the road, which was never wide enough for a cha- 
riot. No carriages have thus far gone to Jericho. 
They are at present building a new and good road. 
I saw men, women and children at work on the 
road. The people come here from the villages and 
work out their taxes. These people were half 
naked, and had very few tools. They carried the 
dirt in round baskets. For shovels they used their 
hands largely, or a small narrow affair no better 
than the hand. Parties numbering ten and twenty 
had no more than a single mattock with' which to 
cut the earth. Here and there a man with fuse, 
drill and powder, could be seen at work. These 
men were evidently imported from some other 
place. I do not know how long the government 
has been at work on this road, nor do I know when 
it will be completed at the present rate of working. 

Half an hour's ride from Bethany the traveler 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 257 

-comes to the "x\postles' Fountain," a strong spring 
issuing from the eastern side of a high hill. This 
was a landmark between Judah and Benjamin 
twenty-five centuries ago. I thought we would 
;surely water our horses here, but the dragoman 
forbade it, saying they had been watered in the 
■early morning, and would travel better without 
water. The poor beasts traveled all day through 
the hot sun without food or drink. The Palestine 
horse is small, sure-footed, and very tough. 

We took our dinner of cold chicken, hard-boiled 
eggs, cold mutton, oranges and bread at the tradi- 
tional site of the " inn by the way-side," where the 
good Samaritan left the man who had fallen among 
thieves. There are two small squares enclosed by 
stone walls. In these squares the travelers have 
their luncheon in the shadow of the walls. These, 
and a high rock at one end of the square, on the 
right-hand side of the road, aflford the only shelter 
from the heat. There is no tree to be seen in this 
great barren waste. 

We are now at the most dangerous part of our 
road. I could not be induced for any sum to go 
over this road alone. Not only was it dangerous 
in the days of Christ ; but ever since it has borne a 
hard name. St. Jerome calls it "the bloody way." 
17 



258 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

A deep ravine beyond the khans is still known as 
*' Murderer's Glen." It was here, only a few years 
ago, that a gentleman from Baltimore, Md., was 
robbed. 

From this point the road leads through the wild- 
est and grandest scenery in Palestine. You go 
through narrow gorges, and around high cliifs, and 
along the edge of frightful precipices. You let the 
reins hang on your horse's neck, and permit him 
to pick his own way. Coming around a certain 
curve of the path, which has here been widened 
into a broad road, one of the finest views in the 
Holy I^and greets the eye. Spread out before the 
traveler is the Jordan Valley, now largely an arid 
waste, but once a veritable garden of fertility. At 
the lower end of the valley is the Dead Sea, veiled 
in a sleepy haze, partially hiding the deep green 
waters. Beyond are the mountains of Moab in 
stately grandeur, overlooking the blasted plain. 
To the left, one sees the site of ancient Jericho, 
and .a little below, the modern village nestling 
amid the only palms and shrubbery in all the 
plain. Near the place where we stand, Achan was 
stoned to death. Through the deep gorge, right 
below us, and to our left, the brook Cherith once 
flowed. There is a monastery cut into the solid rock 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 359 

up at the head of the gorge. On the morning of 
our return we saw many pilgrims wending their 
way along the narrow path which leads to the plain 
of Jericho. These people had spent the night in the 
rocky fastnesses of the monastery, and were now 
on their way to the Jordan. Most of them had 
come from Russia, and had literally walked hun- 
dreds of miles with their bundles on their backs- 
and their staves in their hands. 

In the rainy season the brook Cherith still asserts^ 
its ancient power. The water from the bare hill- 
sides accumulates rapidly in the deep ravine, and 
comes down the gorge with the noise of thunder, 
sweeping everything before it. A few days after 
our ride some of our party tented near the end 
of the gorge, and came near being washed out of 
their quarters. I do not wonder that Elijah could 
safely hide from the wicked Ahab in this gorge. 

With this magnificent view we had forgotten 
that we were tired and very warm from riding in 
the hot sun for eight long hours. We now de- 
scended rapidly into the valley, and were soon 
upon the site of that Jericho which Christ used to 
visit. This Jericho is south of the ancient city, 
about a mile, and consists of the remains of an old 
Roman aqueduct and la few stone piles. A ruin, 



26o A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

purporting to have been the house of Zacchaeus, is 
also to be seen. Jericho was once the centre of 
trade between Arabia and Palestine. It was a 
strongly fortified city in the days of Ahab. Here 
was the seat of a school of the prophets which was 
frequently visited by Elijah. Mark Antony pre- 
sented the place to Cleopatra, and she, in turn, 
sold it to Herod. Here this king established his 
winter residence, it being the most healthy and 
beautiful spot in his dominions. Jericho was 
greatly beautified by Herod the Great. Under 
Vespasian it was destroyed, and afterwards again 
rebuilt. It was completely destroyed by the Cru- 
saders. 

A little before sunset we rode into a khan kept 
by two Russian ladies. The evening was beauti- 
ful ; the air was soft and balmy and richly per- 
fumed by orange trees and flowers with which the 
stone building is surrounded. The gardens here, 
as in Egypt, are irrigated. There is actually a 
small spring quite close to the khan at which we 
stopped. In the days when I^ot lived in this val- 
ley there was no lack of water, and the land was a 
veritable garden of the Lord. The half dozen 
springs which are still in this vicinity could even 
now be made to irrigate the vale and make it fer- 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 261 

tile ; but the people of the place are lazy vaga- 
bonds, who would much rather steal than work, 
whilst the Bedouins who roam here are the most 
degraded of all the sons of Ishmael. We were very 
tired, and so retired early. We had learned a les- 
son by our leaving Jerusalem so late in the morn- 
ing ; we therefore resolved to get an early start 
for the Dead Sea and the Jordan. 

Long before the sun rose we were up and ready 
for our ride to the Dead Sea. After riding a few 
miles we came into full view of the sea. There it 
lay, a great mass of liquid blue! We felt sure it 
could not be more than a mile to its shore. After 
riding five miles more we were still a mile away, 
and apparently no nearer than when we took our 
first full view. The air is so pure and there are so 
few small objects that one has very false ideas of 
distances. 

At last we were on the much-wished-for shore. 
We bathed, picked small stones from beneath the 
waters, and thoroughly enjoyed our visit to that 
strange water of which we had heard and read so 
much in our childhood. The Dead Sea is a re- 
markable body of water. It is 1300 feet below the 
level of the ocean, and covers an area of about 300 
square miles. It seems as if the bottom were 



262 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

slowly falling out and the waters gradually becom- 
ing deeper. Storms frequently lash the heavy 
waters into fury so that the waves dash high upon 
the shore. There is no vegetation on its shore. 
The sands for miles are encrusted with salt which 
looks like flakes of snow. Here and there were 
masses of driftwood which comes from one scarcely 
knows where, up the Jordan or from the moun- 
tains of Moab, brought here by the accumulated 
waters in the ravines in the rainy season. Tris- 
tram says, '' It is difficult to conceive whence such 
vast numbers of palms can have been brought, 
unless we imagine them to be collected wrecks of 
many centuries, accumulating here from the days 
when the city of palm trees extended its grove to 
the edge of the river.'* The shores of the sea were 
very quiet when we were there. Frequently, how- 
ever, birds of many kinds may be seen along the 
shore. Wild ducks have been observed on the 
briny waters a mile from the shore. The Sea itself 
is destitute of all life. 

This is not the valley of death it has been de- 
scribed to be. Wild beasts, such as the jackal, 
hyaena, fox, hare, porcupine, and even the leopard, 
are seen. At night when the sea is ruffled by the 
wind it presents great phosphorescent waves. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 263 

which illuminate its entire surface, and make it a 
veritable " lake of fire. " 

It has been asserted that the Cities of the Plain 
lie buried beneath these waters. It is now gene- 
rally suppposed that Sodom was situated south of 
the sea, at what is known as Jebel Usdum. At a 
place called Gumran, near the northern end of 
the sea, some remarkable ruins have recently been 
found. From the similarity of the name, which is 
supposed to have been preseved by the Arabs, it 
is asserted that these ruins were once a part of 
Gomorrah. A large number of graves have been 
found near here. These graves have vaults at the 
bottom, built of sun-dried bricks. The bodies found 
in these tombs all lie with their heads toward the 
south. They are, therefore, neither Jewish, Mo- 
hammedan nor Christian. Outside of what we have 
in the Bible, little can be known of these wicked 
cities. The hand of time has wiped out what the 
wrath of God permitted to remain after that awful 
morning when Lot went out of Sodom. 

The sun even in March burns fiercely in this 
plain, which is 1300 feet below the level of the sea. 
The thermometer has been known to register 110° 
after sunset in July at Bngedi, a place on the west 
side, about half way between the northern and 
southern ends of the sea. 



264 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

After leaving the Dead Sea to our right, we rode 
straight for the Jordan. The Arabs and dragomen 
of the company gave lis fine displays of their ex- 
cellent horsemanship on the great sandy plain. 
They rode like madmen, shouting and firing their 
pistols. Their horses seemed to enjoy it as well 
as the riders. I had difficulty in restraining my 
ugly beast from indulging in the same mad sport. 
I did ride more rapidly than I had done for years 
at home. 

On our nearer approach to the Jordan we began 
to ride through high dry grass and cane-brakes. 
We gained our first sight of the historic river a few 
miles above the spot where it enters the sea, near 
the place where it is said the children of Israel 
crossed it when they first entered the plains of 
Jericho. The bank of the river here was dotted 
with tents. Garments of every description were 
drying on bushes. Pilgrims come hither from 
everywhere, but especially from Russia. Some of 
them spend a whole week bathing in the historic 
river and resting from their long and wearisome 
tramp. Many bathe in a long garment, which 
they dry and then carefully put away, to serve 
them as a shroud. They think by bathing their 
sins are washed away. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 265 

We encamped at the traditional crossing-place of 
the children of Israel. We had scarcely dismounted 
before we were joined by a large party of Cook^s 
tourists, some of whom (among them Drs. Bill- 
heimer and Fry of Reading) were known to us. 
Here we had lunch, and tried to rest in the shade 
of the trees and shrubs, which at this place are 
very thick. There were nasty flies which tor- 
mented us. In addition it was very hot, there be- 
ing scarcely a breath of air. The river is very 
swift and deep here ; but, notwithstanding, the 
greater part of our party took a bath. Many of us 
took water from the river with us. 

The Jordan is a historic river, having been three 
times miraculously divided. It takes its source in 
the Springs of Hasbeiya and falls over three thou- 
sand feet in its course. It is from 45 to 180 feet 
wide, and from 3 to 12 feet in depth. There are 
the remains of several bridges which once crossed 
the river. Some of these date back to the time of 
the Romans. There is a fine stone bridge above 
the site of ancient Jericho. 

On our return to Jericho we had a very hot ride. 
One of our ladies was overcome by the heat and 
compelled to rest beneath a tree, a few of which 
dot the plain. We passed a Bedouin camp and saw 



266 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

a slave in the garb bestowed by Dame Nature. 
These are the hardest looking people I ever saw 
anywhere. 

The return ride was interesting, inasmuch as we 
passed the traditional site of Gilgal, the first place 
where the Israelites incamped after their arrival in 
this plain. The spot where the memorial stones 
were erected is marked by a large tamarisk-tree. 
Some claim that the many little mounds scattered 
around here are none other than the ash-heaps of 
the children of Israel, produced during that famous 
encampment of thirty centuries ago! 

If this be the place, it is a hallowed spot. Here 
the male children which had been born during the 
journey of forty years were circumcised. Flint 
knives found here seem to confirm the suppo- 
sition that this was Gilgal and that the knives 
were used in the performance of the rite. It was 
here that manna ceased, and it was here that 
Joshua pitched the tabernacle for the first time in 
the land of promise. From this encampment the 
children of Israel marched out every morning for 
seven days to encompass the city which once stood 
a few miles to the north of Gilgal. 

Of coure we went to the site of old Jericho. The 
fountain which gushes from a hillock which may 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 267 

be partly composed of the ruined wall of the an- 
cient City of Palms, is, no doubt, the very spring 
whose bitter waters Elisha healed. The hillocks, 
which are seen in different places near the foun- 
tain, are nearly all artificial. Some of these hil- 
locks are of stone within or of sun-dried bricks. 
They were used either for defence or for the pur- 
pose of locating altars dedicated to idols. This is 
the spot where God gave one of the grandest mani- 
festations of His power to help His people. In this 
city was Rahab's house who secreted the spies, and 
who, in the wonderful providence of God, became 
the mother of a line of illustrious ancestors,* whose 
glory culminated in the Messiah. That she was a 
harlot in the modern sense of the word is no neces- 
sary conclusion, inasmuch as she, no doubt, kept 
an inn and in consequence was called a harlot. 

If the fountain of Elisha were kept clean, its 
waters would be delicious. Wherever its healing 
waters flow there is an abundance of vegetation. 
If the water were properly conducted it could be 
made to irrigate the whole plain for miles around, 
and restore to it something of its ancient product- 

*Rahab married a prince in Judah, became the mother of 
Boaz, who married Ruth, who was the ancestor of David, 
through whom the Messiah came. 



268 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

iveness. One can not help asking whether in the 
infinite wisdom of the Father this plain is not held 
in desolation until all nations shall have come to 
the Son, then to be restored to its ancient glory in 
the last days, when the Master reigns on earth in 
the hearts of all people. Directly back of ancient 
Jericho rises one of the highest mountains of the 
Judean range. This mountain has been pointed 
to for many centuries as the scene of Christ's 
temptation and forty days' fast. On the top of the 
mountain are the ruins of a Christian church 
dating back to the days of the Crusaders. Up 
there veiled in clouds these brave men used to 
worship God. What wonder if they and the 
monks in their rock-hewn cells had views grander 
than that which Moses had from Nebo yonder. 
The mountain is literally honeycombed with cells 
once the homes of monks. Many of these are 
almost inaccessible. The rains and storms of cen- 
turies have left frightful precipices where once 
men could walk with ease. From our hostelry 
we could see lights twinkle in these airy fast- 
nesses. When all these cells were inhabited as 
they once were, it is said lights burned nightly 
in every rock-hewn home, illuminating the entire 
mountain side. Just when these wonderful homes 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 269 

were first occupied is not so easy to determine. 
Many suppose that the early Christians went 
thither to escape bloody persecutions. Others 
followed them from choice. It is said those who 
live there now obtain all their provisions from 
Jerusalem, to which some of their number walk 
daily. I wonder whether they always depended 
upon this source for their supplies, or whether they 
were at times fed by angels or ravens, as was 
Elijah, not many miles from this mountain? 

As the evening shadows were lengthening I 
stood above old Jericho, and looked on the peace- 
ful, naked plain below. There was Gilgal and the 
Jericho of Herod. Beyond these the smoke of a 
few Bedouin camp-fires ascended, as the smoke of 
incense used to ascend from the Tabernacle of God's 
people. Still further the waters of the Dead Sea 
lay quiet as a child in dreamless slumber. To the 
left the Jordan rushed wildly in its zigzag course, 
as if in conscious haste to bury itself in its strange 
sea tomb. * 

Then I saw this plain thickly covered with trees 
and gardens and homes. I saw a great company 
coming like a great cloud from beyond the Jordan. 
I fancied I heard their songs of triumph as they 
pitched their tents at Gilgal. Again the scene 



270 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

changed, and I saw half a score of chariots driven 
to the historic river. I saw Naaman, the leper, 
hathe where Israel had crossed ; I saw him healed 
from his awful malady. Again my mind bounded 
over the deep chasm of the years, and I heard the 
voice of John calling sinners to repentance on 
those historic banks. I heard the "Man of Sor- 
rows" say, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it be- 
cometh us to fulfil all righteousness." I felt that 
I had not come in vain to this now desolate place ; 
this place where heaven had so often come down 
to earth in mercy as well as judgment. In 
this small district of country Faith has won some 
of its grandest victories, and Sin has found its most 
awful punishment. The eye can not look any- 
where here without resting upon some spot sacred 
because of its associations with Old and New Tes- 
tament saints. Do you wonder, therefore, kind 
reader, that I have said |that I will never, so long 
as I live, forget my visit to Jericho, the Jordan 
and the Dead Sea? 



CHAPTER XX. 

Hebron — Road and associations — Field of Boaz — Episode — 
Bethlehem — Church of the Nativity — St. Jerome — Plain of the 
Shepherds--" Wells of David "—Memories — The People and 
Industries — ^Tomb of Rachel — Giloh— " Pool of Solomon " — 
Aqueduct — Gardens — Cave of Adullam — Amos — Resting 
place — "Oak of Abraham" — View — Hebron — Age — Cave of 
Machpelah — Return to Jerusalem. 

'T^HE road from Jerusalem to Hebron is probably 
^ the oldest and one of the most interesting in 
Palestine. Parts of this road were in use already in 
the days of Abraham. Upon the Plain of Rephaim 
David twice encountered the Philistines, and, no 
doubt, crossed and recrossed this road. In this 
vicinity the sweet singer of Israel was hunted by 
Saul like a wild beast. Along this highway he 
afterwards went in triumph the crowned king ol 
Israel, from Hebron to take up his royal residence 
in Jerusalem. The Man of Sorrows himself was 
carried, and, no doubt, afterwards trod this very 
road from the home of his birth to the Holy City. 
The road is intimately associated with the life of 
patriarchs and prophets, kings and counsellors, 

(271) 



272 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

inasmuch as Hebron from the earliest days of 
Israel's history was an important place. 

We left our hotel at 5 o'clock, before the sun had 
ascended the dark mountains of Moab. When his 
first rays lit up the hills we were already beyond 
the German colony and well across the Plain of 
Rephaim. 

The finest and largest modern building which 
the tourist passes in his entire journey from Jerusa- 
lem to Hebron is the Leper Hospital under the 
auspices of the Moravian church. We have already 
spoken of this truly beautiful and comfortable 
home in a previous chapter. We soon come to the 
fields in which the yeuthful widow, Ruth, once 
gleaned after the reapers in the fields of Boaz. 
This was more than 3000 years ago, but the story 
of her life so graphically related in the Book of 
Ruth will live forever. We are soon in sight of 
Bethlehem, the birthplac^ of the Bread of Life. 
Here we had quite an episode, which I must relate. 
Four tourists and two dragomen, together with the 
driver, occupied one of the three lumbering wagons 
which had been engaged for our journey. I had 
noticed that the two dragomen and the driver were 
engaged in quite an animated conversation in Ara- 
bic for sometime. I said, "What is up?" The 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 273 

■dragoman said, "He (the driver) says, he will not 
go to Hebron." The very journey for which he 
had been engaged he now refused to make. Soon 
the driver stopped the vehicle. The dragomen 
•started the horses and the conversation became 
more animated. Then of a sudden the dragomen 
gave the driver a couple smart thumps and threw 
him off his own wagon, and we drove on. I told 
the dragomen he would have us all arrested at 
Hebron. But Bphraim, our older dragoman, said, 
"He is only a Jew. If he says one word I'll have 
him arrested." In the evening when we came to 
the place where the fight occurred, Mr. Jew made 
profuse apologies and remounted as if nothing had 
occurred. There was a time, not so long ago, in 
which a Jew was not tolerated in the city of Jeru- 
salem. If a Turk or an infidel met a Jew he could 
compel him to carry burdens for miles, and reward 
him at the end of the journey with a blow. 

The day was already far spent when we entered 
Bethlehem. We visited Bethlehem on the way 
from Hebron, but I will here narrate briefly what I 
saw in this sacred city. Of course everybody on 
entering Bethlehem goes to the Church of the 
Nativity. This church was built by the Empress 
Helena, and is the oldest Christian church in the 
18 



274 ^ WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

world. It is richly adorned with columns, and 
gold and silver lamps. The cedar roof rests upon 
forty-eight beautiful columns, which no doubt 
once occupied a place in the Temple of Solomon. 
That the grotto in this church, which purports to 
be the very one in which Christ was born, is 
the identical spot of our Saviour's nativity, there is 
no need to doubt. Not only is this the spot to 
which tradition has pointed for eighteen hundred 
years, but Justin Martyr, who was born in Syriay 
and who had every opportunity to know the place, 
points to this cave as the one in which Christ was 
born. Helena must have felt quite certain of the 
place before she erected her grand basilica. This 
magnificent church has a nave and double aisles. 
The aisles are separated by a double row of mono- 
lithic columns, ornamented with Corinthian capi- 
tals. Passing through the church, the visitor 
descends thirteen steps to the crypt. Here is the 
Chapel of the Nativity, a cave, the floor and sides 
of which are covered with beautiful marble. This 
chapel is thirteen and one half yards long, four 
yards wide and ten feet high. Under the altar is a 
silver star in the marble pavement, with the inscrip- 
tion : Hie de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus 
est (Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 275 

Mary). The chapel is lighted by thirty-two beau- 
tiful lamps, which are said to be kept burning 
night and day from century to century. About 
the altar which marks the birthplace of Christ 
there are fifteen of these lamps. In the Chapel of 
the Manger Jesus was laid after his birth, and 
adored by the Magi (Matthew ii. 11). In another 
place is shown the spot where Joseph slept when, 
he was ''warned of God in a dream that they- 
should not return to Herod." St. Jerome for a. 
time lived in Bethlehem. Under his direction: 
monasteries, and a hostelry and hospital for pil- 
grims, were built here. A little cell cut out of the 
solid rock, in which St. Jerome used to write and 
meditate, is stillto.be seen. Here he translated 
the Bible into Vulgate, and here he died and was 
buried. The stone steps which he used to ascend 
and descend are now in the wall of the Church of 
the Nativity. In 416 the Pelagians burned his 
establishment at Bethlehem, and he fled for his 
life. Two years afterwards he returned,, and not 
long after this his labors ceased. He was buried 
among the ruins of his monastery. It is said his 
remains were afterwards exhumed and taken to the 
Church of Santa Maria Maggiora in Rome. 

We ascended the hill from which we could see 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 277 

the angels stood in holy rapture when Christ was 
born. It was thither the star came and stood over 
the place where the young Child lay, that Child 
whose "line is gone out through all the earth, and 
His words to the end of the world." What forces 
that birth has started against the powers of 
darkness! What holy aspirations His life has 
kindled ! What hopes it has awakened ! Beth- 
lehem here, and the Cross on Calvary yonder, are 
the two spots from which the history of humanity 
takes a new start, and to which it points for the 
origin of the new and the grand development of 
these latter days. 

Bethlehem is still the garden spot for many 
miles around Jerusalem. The hills are terraced and 
the limestone rocks with which they are studded 
are covered with olive orchards, choice vines, and 
clustering figs. Its people are the prettiest, the 
tallest and most intelligent, we met anywhere in all 
this wonderful land. The people manufacture the 
finest articles out of mother of pearl made any- 
where. These goods make beautiful and useful 
souvenirs, and are remarkably cheap when we 
consider the time and skill required in their 
making. 

About six miles from Jerusalem the traveler 



278 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

comes to a small structure apparently of modern 
date. This spot has been looked upon for many 
centuries as the Tomb of Rachel, the beloved 
wife of Jacob. We are told that her husband 
buried her, "in the way of Kphrath, which is 
Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her 
grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto 
this day." Leah, her sister, sleeps in the cave 
of Machpelah ; but the ashes of Rachel have re- 
posed here alone through all the centuries. As 
one gazes upon the old tombs of Bible characters, 
and walks over the hills and valleys through 
which they once roamed, one becomes strangely 
familiar with their hallowed lives and more deeply 
interested in the Book which records God's deal- 
ings with them. 

As the traveler continues his journey he comes 
to Giloh, the old home of Ahithophel, the friend 
and counselor of David. This friend the king lost 
in his old age when he was compelled to flee from 
Absalom. Beyond Giloh are the Pools of Sol- 
omon. There is little doubt that the construc- 
tion of these reservoirs dates back to the time of 
Israel's wisest king. Traces are to be seen of five 
broken aqueducts from ten to thirty miles long, 
entering Jerusalem from the south. Three of 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 279 

these connect with the Pools. There are three of 
these Pools, measuring in all 1385 feet in length, 
and 236 in width. Their depth is from twenty- 
five to fort)' feet. They are in successive terraces 
one below the other, and about fifty yards apart. 
The water was gathered from springs, some of 
them miles away. The conduits leading from the 
springs to the pools were concealed, so that an 
enemy could not not cut off the supply. One of 
these conduits is four miles long. One of the aque- 
ducts follows the modern plan of piping, show- 
ing that Jewish artisans were familiar with the 
principles applied in the construction of reservoirs 
and the conveying of water supplies in modern 
times. Instead of using iron or wooden piping, 
they used large blocks of stone neatly joined. 
Through the centre of these blocks they bored 
or drilled a hole sixteen inches in diameter. 
The whole tube is imbedded in rubble-work and 
coated with cement. It is said Solomon's gardens 
were here close to these Pools. Here he planted 
vineyards and olive orchards, fruits and flowers. 
To this place he is said to have driven in his 
chariot every morning. Here he sought peace 
from the cares of state, and satisfaction for his 
burdened soul, but found it not. Of all these 



28o A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

things he wrote, "Vanity of vanities!" "All is 
vanity and vexation of spirit." 

Not far from the Pools of Solomon is a cleft in 
the rock where Samson is said to have hid him- 
self from the Philistines after smiting them "hip 
and thigh" for burning his wife and her family, 
(Judges XV. i). 

The cave of Adullam, in which David took 
refuge when he fled from the king of Gath, is also 
not far from the Pools. David knew every inch of 
ground in this vicinity, for it was upon these hills 
he kept his father's flocks before he exchanged the 
shepherd's crook for the diadem of Israel. " The 
cave is in the north face of a precipitous mountain^ 
and the only approach is along a narrow, shelving 
rock, overhanging the dry bed of a stream a hun- 
dred feet below." The entrance is narrow, but 
the cave itself is large, consisting of galleries, 
rooms and halls. Every foot of the ground in this 
vicinity is sacred, having been trodden and re- 
trodden by prophet, priest and king. The home 
of Amos, and that of the woman who interceded 
for Absalom with David, his father, was also in 
this vicinity. (2 Sam. xiv. 1-20.) 

About five miles beyond the Pools of Solomon 
we stopped at a hut by the wayside, near a spring. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 28 1 

In this hut they furnish cofifee and horse-feed to 
the hundreds of pilgrims who pass this way every 
year, to and from Hebron. After a short rest, we 
were off once more. In about two hours we were 
opposite the Hotel Hebron, where we dismissed 
our horses, and went up a by-way about a mile to 
the oak on the plain of Mamre. 

The "Oak of Abraham," as it is called, is a 
large tree more than twenty feet in circumference. 
It is now held together with chains, and the de- 
cayed places in the trunk are filled with putty. 
Notwithstanding this great care, it will not be 
long before the storms, which it has withstood for 
centuries, will prostrate it. We took luncheon 
under this old tree, and brought away with us 
some of its acorns. This is not the oak under 
which Abraham and Sarah pitched their tent four 
thousand years ago ; but it is near, if it does not 
overshadow the spot. After luncheon we ascended 
the tower on the top of the hill behind the oak, and 
had a splendid view of the Dead Sea on our right, 
and the mists which overhung the blue Mediter- 
ranean on our left. This view is almost as fine as 
the one from the top of Olivet. 

Having no other means, inasmuch as we had 
dismissed our carriages, we walked to the town. 



282 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

nearly two miles away. Hebron is the oldest town 
in the world. It "was built seven years before 
Zoan in Egypt.'* The very site of the latter is in 
dispute, whilst Hebron is as thriving and prosper- 
ous as any town in modern Palestine. We marvel 
at the antiquities of ruined Memphis ; but Hebron 
was old before the foundations of Memphis were 
laid. The oldest relics of Roman civilization are 
recent when compared with Hebron. It was built 
long before Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, or 
before the first verse of the Bible was written. 
Near this town Abraham entertained his heavenly 
visitors. Years afterwards, when Abraham was 
with the angels, and his children had escaped their 
bondage and were returning to this very land, the 
spies bore back in triumph to the assembled hosts 
the fruits of this land. When Israel was estab-' 
lished in this land centuries afterwards, his second, 
and in many respects his greatest king, began his 
reign in Hebron. 

The cave of Machpelah which Abraham pur- 
chased from Ephron, the Hittite, for four hundred 
shekels of silver, is in Hebron. This burial place 
is covered by a mosque, which is held in the great- 
est reverence by the fanatical Mohammedans. 
Well they may reverence this ancient burial place, 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 283 

for of all the sacred places in their unhallowed 
possession few are more worthy of reverence. 
Here Sarah was buried. In due time Abraham 
was laid here. Then came the ashes of an illus- 
trious line of Jewish ancestors for many ages. No 
doubt the ashes of Jacob were brought thither from 
from Egypt. The "Haram and Castle of Abra- 
ham," as the sacred enclosure is called, contains 
at the southern end what was once a Christian 
church. This doubtless covers a tomb which con- 
tains the ashes of the patriarchs. It is said there 
are two caves, one above the other. In the lower 
are the ashes of the patriarchs, and in the upper 
many human bones brought there centuries ago 
to await the resurrection near the great ancestor 
of this wonderful people. We were not in the 
mosque. Christians are not admitted. The Prince 
of Wales and a few others are the only Christians 
that have been in the sacred enclosure since the 
religion of the False Prophet has had the land in 
its power. When will the time come when Pales- 
line and all its sacred treasures will be in the pos- 
session of Christian nations, to whom alone they 
belong ? Before this comes to pass, the millenium 
of Christ's reign can not come. 

After leaving Hebron we returned to Jerusalem, 



284 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

which to every pilgrim is the great centre of at- 
traction. From the Holy City all of our short ex- 
cursions to the towns and places of interest were 
made. Our return ride was as pleasant as any we 
had in Palestine. We met and passed many pil- 
grims on their way to and from Hebron. This 
city is of like interest to Christian, Jew and 
Mohammedan, inasmuch as all claim its sacred 
relics. 




■f» 



CHAPTER XXL* 

Damascus — Description — History — Paul in Damascus — Ba- 
zaars — Rugs — Silks — Blades— Great Mosque — John of Damas- 
cus, Tomb of— Of Saladin — Private houses — Christian mis- 
sions. 

Damascus ! The traveler looks back to it with 
a pleasure which no memory of its dirt and dogs 
can destroy. The approach to the city keeps a 
party quiet. It is all so beautiful. The river 
Abana, which Naaman thought better than the Jor- 
dan, (and no wonder !) flows through it, and the 
verdure is specially thick and delightful after that 
long, hot ride up the country. The houses are gen- 
erally white, with enough of the darker shades to 
bring out the minarets and towers more distinctly. 
The city appears first as a long white line against 
the blue, punctuated with these shapely spires, and 
as one gets nearer it gains in beauty. The road 
winds along the hill-side (a spur of the Lebanons), 
and gives a fine view of the city ; then goes down 
through the famous gardens, and enters the city 

* I am indebted to Rev. Prof. C. B. McAfee of Park College 
for^^this and following chapter. 

(285) 



286 A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

on the smooth carriage road from Beirut. What a 
history the city has had ! Naaman was here, and 
the conductor dutifully points out the site of his 
residence, which is now appropriately occupied by 
a hospital for lepers. J^ong after, the city figures 
in prophecy for condemnation. Then Saul came 
to it, and went out Paul. The house of Ananias 
is shown, and that of Judas, where Saul was taken, 
and where Ananias found him. The latter is fitted 
up with candles, an altar, and the necessaries for 
worship. It will always be inseparably connected 
with whitewash in my mind, because it had just 
been whitened, and had not a pleasant odor. So 
easy is it to go from the sublime to the ridiculous. 

Paul escaped from Damascus by a basket over 
the wall, you remember. The place is pointed out, 
and is, within the range of possibility, the correct 
one. Some people are skeptical enough to shake 
their heads and doubt it, but such people have 
much to doubt in Palestine. 

There were Jewish synagogues here in Christ's 
time, and in the time of Constantine it became the 
seat of a Christian patriarch, whose authority 
ranked next to that of Antioch. A very large 
Christian Church was here. Persecuting Paul did 
not stop his work. 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 287 

In the seventh century after Christ the Moham- 
medans took the city, and have held it with very 
slight intermissions ever since. Saladin made it his 
headquarters for a time, and the Turks got it in 
the sixteenth century. So much for history. 

The bazaars of Damascus are one of the great 
attractions. The three specialties are rugs, silks 
and blades. Besides these there are whole rows 
of shops, whose fronts are decorated with red and 
yellow shoes, or with toys, fruit, harness, mats, 
and what not. A large part of the *' Street 
called Straight," is now shops of all sorts. Sev- 
eral of the streets are roofed with high arches, and 
thus the fine arcades of Milan and Florence are re- 
placed. The merchants of Damascus are of the 
usual Oriental sort. They ask twice what they 
hope to get. A fez starts at three francs (60 
cents), and ^you get it easily enough for one 
franc ; a rug is priced at I30 and sold for $20. The 
buyer does not expect the seller to tell him the 
truth about the goods, so the seller does not try to 
tell it. Once in a long while a dealer is found 
who means what he says, and will not come down 
in price, but it is not often. I found one, and was 
so surprised that I bought something I did not 
want. Many tourists buy Damascus rugs as souv- 



288 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

enirs. They are beautiful, and can be had at any 
price. They would be called expensive were they 
not so serviceable and lasting ; $25 will not buy a 
very large one, $10 will get a small one. I saw 
one for $350, but it was enormous and heavy. 
There is certainly a large choice. Even the small 
dealers seem to have an unlimited supply, and to 
be proud of them, even though they sell none. 

The silks are equally beautiful. It seemed to 
me the colors were brighter and clearer than any- 
where else. Red, yellow and green impressed me 
as the most common colors, though blue and other 
tints were to be seen. Some of the patterns were 
delicate and really fine ; others were of the most 
impossible design and looked gaudy. 

Damascus steel blades are justly famous. They 
are of all shapes and sizes, from the little hunter's 
knife to the belt sword of the sheik. Showing us 
the quality of these latter, the dealer cut a nail 
almost in two with it, and I looked in vain for the 
damage to the blade! They gain in value if they 
have been used, and so it is almost impossible to 
find one which has not been owned by some great 
cut-throat. A merchant assured me in broken 
English that a blade which I was examining had 
killed more men than he or I had. I assured him 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 289 

that SO far as I was concerned, that said nothing 
for the blade, since I kept no private graveyard. 
Then I asked him how many fellow-men had 
fallen beneath his vengeance. His English was 
exhausted, so he said, "Yes," and I felt unan- 
swered. But I did not buy the blade. 

It would be impossible to describe the bazaars 
except at great length. Generally goods of the 
same kind may be found together. There will be 
a whole row of fez shops, and then shoes, and then 
veils, and then rugs, and so on. Once in a while 
a dealer carries more than one line, but as a rule 
he has room for very little, and keeps one line 
only. 

The sights of the city are not very abundant. 
Chief among them is the Great Mosque, with its 
two slender minarets, its tomb of John of Damas- 
cus, and its relics of the early Christian Church. 
The latter consist of two bronze doors, and a Greek 
inscription over a doorway long since blocked up. 
The inscription is a quotation of Ps. cxlv. 13, and 
is usually covered with clap-boards, which are re- 
moved for a fee. It was of special interest to the 
clergymen of the party, and was promptly booked 
as an illustration. It is said that this is the site of 

the House of Rimmon, of Naaman's time, and 
19 



290 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

also that the great Church was here. At any rate 
the present Mosque has a great interest. It was 
so expensive with frescoes and marbles that the 
Sultan had all the expense-sheets destroyed, lest 
the people be offended at his prodigality. Only a 
few traces of its early finery are left, but they hint 
of costly things. John of Damascus, whose tomb 
is in the mosque, was a pious theologian of the 
eighth century. His tomb is a large one, and 
rather overdone with bronze and glass. As we 
passed through, a child's body lay before it wait- 
ing burial. We saw it carried out presently, and 
were told that the custom obtains among a great 
many of the faithful, of leaving the bodies here an 
hour. The tomb is near the east end of the build- 
ing. 

Not far from it is the famous well, from which 
if you drink five times a day you become younger 
all the time. Some of our ladies were observed to 
take five distinct sips of the water. I do not know 
if it worked, but there was no need for any such 
antidote. 

The tombs of Saladin and his son are in a build- 
ing close by, and really under the shadow of the 
Great Mosque. These tombs are large in them- 
selves and occupy a building whose roof is really 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 29I 

worth study as a successful arch. I fear I did not 
gain much from the tombs, but I brouo^ht away an 
impression of the building as one of striking sym- 
pathy and beauty. The fame of Saladin might 
well rest on the fact that his word was never 
broken. We may be pardoned for having smiled 
vociferously when some remarked as we came out, 
"This is the fellow who had such a wonderful 
lamp that he rubbed, isn't it?" 

The panorama of the city seen from the minaret 
will never be forgotten, and cannot be described^ 
The place of the Druse massacre of i860 was 
pointed out. Dozens of minarets, several arched 
streets, hundreds of curved roofs, and people 
moving about, left a distinct impression. 

Damascus is wealthy. We Were told that there 
are several men worth over half a million, and we 
visited two houses which betokened immense 
wealth. One had belonged to a Jew, who loaned 
the government a large sum ; and the government, 
with a nonchalance peculiar to the Turks, declined 
to pay principal or interest, and the poor fellow 
died of a broken heart after fitting up one room in 
fabulous fashion. Mirrors and marbles, rich up- 
holstering, divans, inlaid tables — everything was 
costly ; and there were other houses like it. Just 



292 A WINTKR JAUNT IN HISTORIC IvANDS. 

how much the women have to do with it I do not 
know ; but if the presence of one woman brig^htens 
a house, as is claimed in America, how bright four 
ought to make one in Damascus? One place had a 
court in the center, which was beautiful with trees 
and a fountain ; flowers were profuse, and life was 
worth living certainly, if anywhere, in Damascus. 
Christianity in this old city has not the power it 
should have. There are missions there, and we 
attended their services. The natives are being 
reached, but the work is not being done as rapidly 
as we could wish. Those who are there are faith- 
ful laborers, and have evident divine blessing. 
There ought to be more of them, however. Mo- 
hommedanism is not ' 'good enough for the Arabs 
and Turks, ' ' nor for anybody else for that matter. 
The more Christianity Damascus has the higher it 
will ■ come. Here, as everywhere, missions are 
humanitarian as well as divine. The gospel teaches 
sanitation as well as salvation. It will teach the 
Damascenes to wash as well as to worship, and that 
will be a great gain. It may lead them to kill 
some of their dogs ; |but that is expecting too 
much, perhaps. 



r',,*Siii!if '• 




CHAPTER XXII. 

Athens — Drive to the city — A soldier — Language— Prices — 
Museums — The Acropolis — The Odeon — Temple of Theseus — 
Of Jupiter— The Citadel— Gates— The Parthenon— "Un- 
winged Victory" — Mars' Hill. 

Why does one get excited as he nears the ful- 
fillment of a dream ? Why did we hurry on deck 
that Saturday morning, and look silently across 
the water and land to see the mountains that lay 
back of the city, and the ruins that marked the 
summit of the Acropolis, and the white buildings 
which were the city? We were nearing Athens. 
Most of us had lost our sentimentality and effusive- 
ness by the severe shocks of the past weeks, but we 
could not be unimpressed as the city came more 
clearly into view. It is not on the seacoast, you 
remember, but lies five miles inland, with its 
harbor guarded by Piraeus. This is no small city, 
of itself. It makes an American shake himself, as 
though he might be nearer home than the guide- 
book says. But we did not protest when we were 
put into carriages and started for Athens. The 
dust was dreadful, and the intelligent drivers kept 

(293) . 



294 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

at just the right distance from each other for us to 
catch the clouds as they came down. They were 
all Greeks, so I have no idea what they were 
thinking, but I know they were long-visioned 
gentlemen. We got all the dust there was to get. 
But we didn't mind that — Athens was only five 
miles away. 

There is a good carriage road all the way over 
from Piraeus, and the drive did not seem long. 
We were in full view of the ruins of the Parthenon 
and the Eurechtheium, though we did not call 
them by that name then. Mounts Lycabettus 
and Pentelius made a clear impression. We were 
not at all weary of seeing, when we got to the 
hotel. 

Athens is modern. Its streets are broad, well 
paved, and generally well lighted. They abound 
in marble, and are beautified by well arranged and 
decorated stores. You might set this city down in 
our country, and call it an improvement on ours. 
It has its ragged edges, of course, but so have our 
cities. Of course the dress is mostly European, 
but the Greek soldier was a standing curiosity to 
me. What masculine architect ever devised his 
outfit, I cannot imagine, and how he has the 
bravery to wear it is as remarkable. The waist of 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 295 

it is ornamented with some sort of tinsel, and is 
generally worn tight. The skirt of it is white, 
and reaches to the knees, enlarging there until 
your soldier looks baggy, decidedly. Then he is 
finished off with white stockings, which sometimes 
fail to connect with the skirt, and a pair of low 
shoes. I am not sure that this description is lucid 
beyond what might be expected from a gentle- 
man's observation of such a toilet. Of course, we 
were on the qui vive for the language. The accent 
.and pronunciation seemed wholly different from 
what we learned when we were in college. The 
l)est authority* I could find there sneers at our 
pronunciation, and declares it was never used in 
speech — as of course we had supposed. Certainly 
the rhythm and music of the present language sur- 
pass what we made of Homer years ago. English 
and French are crowding in, however, and within 
a few decades will begin to restrict the beautiful 
Greek, I fear. Languages are as imperious as 
men, and one must give way before another. 

There is nothing distinctively Athenian which 
the tourist can buy, except marbles from one place 
and another, and shells from Marathon and Sal- 

*Dr. Kalopothekes, a native missionary. 



296 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

amis. They do not manufacture things in any 
abundance, so far as we found, but they are a 
plucky little nation, bound to succeed. Tourists 
are welcome, and are treated well. In some cases 
the price of things is absurdly high. I even heard 
a lady complaining over the price of some hair 
pins! I tremble to think what a suit of clothes 
would have cost there. I bought a knife for about 
forty cents, knowing it could not be any good. 
One blade snapped when I attempted to sharpen a 
pencil therewith. I keep the handle and another 
blade as a souvenir. In most cases, however, 
prices are fair and dealers courteous. The people 
seemed very cordial everywhere we went while 
there. 

Greece is rich in memories, and excavations 
yield large results. Dr. Schliemann has made a 
name for himself and a handsome profit for the 
nation by his enthusiastic work in unearthing 
ruins. Consequently there are some fine museums. 

It is rank heresy, but I confess I was tired of 
museums. Things get so musty and unreal after 
they are laid under a glass case, or stood up in a 
row against a wall. A man who can move about 
and talk will bear closer acquaintance than a dozen 
pieces of old crockery and patched statues. The 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 297 

Athenian museums are fine, but they are muse- 
ums, and they are interesting, or not, as you like 
or do not like " antiques. '^ There are ship prows 
pulled out of the sea, gold cups, tankards, old 
knives, swords, skeletons, crockery, costumes, and 
so on. It was worth noting that some of the colors 
of the frescoes were as bright as though they were 
fresh. The statues were called fine, but — well, 
they were fine, I suppose. The museum buildings 
are very fine, and are evidence of what Greece 
may become. They are of white marble, and 
stand out uncrowded, low and massive. 

Nothing in Athens compares in interest with the 
Acropolis. It is a high hill, crowned with ruins of 
what must have been a magnificent group of build- 
ings. All around one side of the hill, at the base, 
are ruins. Among the latter are the ruins of the 
Theatre of Bacchus, with its space for 35,000 peo- 
ple, who endured the stone seats for the sake of 
the play. Strange to say, the front row of seats in 
this tragic theatre was reserved for the priests! 
Imagine it now! There are names engraved on 
the stone chairs, and it was pleasant to sit where 
dignity had sat. 

Next the theatre is the shrine of Esculapius, 
which shows the effect of time and tourists. Be- 



298 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

side it is the Odeoti of Herodes Atticus, a neater 
little ampitheatre, with enough left to prove that 
it was worthy the city in its day. It was intended 
for reciting poetry and such things. I noticed 
the walls seemed very strong and the entrance 
easily guarded, presumably to protect the poet 
from the populace. The Odeon has a seating 
capacity of about 6,000 we were told. As we sat 
about resting, it was natural that we should sing 
* 'America," and try to forget that we were so far 
away from there. Most of the front wall of the 
Odeon stands, and shows how the exits were ar- 
ranged. In the centre of the pavement, between 
the platform and the seats, is a cistern, which 
helped to cool the audience, and when necessary, 
the declaimers. No one is authority for the state- 
ment, but it seems a plain fact. 

The reputed prison of Socrates, where he was 
kept just before he took poison, is worthy only a 
mention. There are three caverns cut in the rock 
on a hillside across the valley from the Acropolis. 
One is square, one circular, one irregular. All 
are shallow and have iron bars at the entrance. I 
do not know which is Socrates' prison, and am not 
sure of either. 

Everything about is historic. There is the 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 299 

bema of the orators. It is a platform cut out of 
rock. Demosthenes delivered the Oratio De Cor- 
ona here. Standing on it we see the city with 
lyycabettus for a background. The Acropolis is 
most conspicuous from here, as it is from every- 
where. 

The temple of Theseus is between here and the 
hotel, and is worthy a visit. The road to Corinth 
must be crossed, and no doubt Paul traveled it. 
The Theseum is built on a spur, almost on the 
plain, that runs out from Mars' Hill. It marks the 
site of the second burial of Theseus. This hero 
lived 1700 B. C, and was nearly contemporary 
with the Pentateuch. He introduced a system of 
government into Attika, and after dying in the 
usual way, appeared ag-ain at the battle of Mara- 
thon. This somewhat surprised people, and he 
took high rank among them as a saint. ' ' I omit 
the details,'' as our conductor used to say. The 
building is not large, is oblong, surrounded of 
course with a row of columns, unlighted until it 
was doctored up for a church. It is 2200 years old, 
we are told. What makes this masonry more re- 
markable, it is cut to fit so closely that there is 
no mortar. The roof is modern, and at first the 
building was open above, then covered and left 



300 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I^ANDS. 

dark. It is an amateur museum, and has the reg- 
ulation tablets and refuse in it. The finest parts 
of all are the tablets which have cut on them the 
laws of ancient Greece. One would like time to 
read them through, but cannot. They are in 
Greek whose letters look familiar in spite of being 
so old. 

On the^other side of the Acropolis is the temple 
of Jupiter, dating from the 6th century B. C. It is 
all gone but fifteen columns, and they are wonder- 
ful. They are high, large, and stand up as lonely 
sentinels. One has fallen, and lies along the 
ground with the clean-cut edges of the fluted 
stones separated. One can see what close fitting 
has been done. In all these buildings mortar 
seems to have been unthought of. The masons cut 
the stones so well that they fitted and stayed there. 
It is difficult to imagine what this temple of Jupiter 
must have been, but it was certainly worthy the 
city and the divinity. The goverment is protecting 
the ruins as well as it can, but of course some vand- 
als love to carry home pieces of everything, and so 
the fallen column is all scarred up by the meanness 
of men. 

Not far from this temple is the Stadium, which 
was the place for foot-races, and other manly 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 3OI 

sports. And to get to it you must needs cross the 
** classic lllyssus." This is not much to look at. 
It is between 3 and 25 inches wide, has a rich 
green scum on it, and does not seem to be going 
anywhere. The poetry of history gets more poetic 
the more facts one learns. The king's palace, the 
mansion of Dr. Schliemann, the explorer, the 
churches and many other things, are duly visited 
by all tourists, but would not be of much interest 
if described. 

Of the two great points of interest in Athens, 
something must be said. First, the Acropolis. It 
has been the citadel and fortress of Athens many a 
time. It is almost unassailable except from one 
side. No one knows just when it began to be a 
religious power as well as military. It lies south 
of the main part of the city, but west of many of 
the buildings, and is a single point that shoots 
heavenward, out of the plain. The top is broad 
enough for many people, and much building, and 
has been faithfully used by both. The accessible 
side is the west, and there were the main gates to 
the summit. A broad stairway led to the five-fold 
gate, and through them processions entered. The 
Propylea was of itself a beautiful piece of work, 
and though very much ruined, still repays careful 



302 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I.ANDS. 

study. There are five gates side by side. The 
two outside are smallest and of the same size; the 
next two are larger, and the central is highest of 
all. There are marks of the hanging of gates, 
apparently, and the capstones of the doors are fine 
specimens of stone. One or two have fallen. 
Once on the top, the largest ruin is the highest — 
the Parthenon. It is much like the mental picture 
we all have of it from its photographs. Neither 
wall is complete, and several of the columns are 
thrown down. The west end is most nearly com- 
plete. It formerly opened toward the east, and had 
no door toward the west, but when it was made a 
church, a door was cut in the west. The site of 
the great statue which was the glory of the Par- 
thenon can still be traced easily. There is a wind- 
ing stairway at the west end, which goes up 
through the wall. It is said by some to have been 
a Moslem piece of work, and the top used as a 
minaret. Possibly it was always there. At any 
rate, I will never forget climbing those steps in 
the evening of a certain day, and sitting high up 
on these ruins waiting for the moon to rise, and 
the beauty of the scene as the moonlight came 
over it will always be fresh in my mind. The 
Parthenon is oblong, with two rows of columns 



A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC I<ANDS. 303 

at each end, and one row at the sides. It crowns 
the hill, and deserves to crown it. 

This is the largest ruin, but it is not the finest. 
The best specimen of archaeological industry and of 
original taste is the little temple of Nike Apteros, 
or Unwinged Victory. It is very small, and stands 
unconnected with anything, on the very southwest 
corner of the summit. It had been cast down and 
the pieces were scattered, but two enthusiasts saw 
its possibilities and put it together again. Photo- 
graphs of it and everything else on the Acropolis 
abound, and will give more of an idea of the ruins 
than any new description can give. 

The other, and to me the most important place in 
Athens, is a small hill west of the Acropolis. Steps 
are cut in the stone and they have been trodden 
by thousands of people, and for hundreds of years. 
It is Mars' Hill. How many great speeches and 
strong defences have been made here ! Theorists 
used to come here, and a great many whose theo- 
ries proved eternal truths. In Paul's time there 
were more than 2,000 divinities represented in 
Athens, and yet to-day only one, and He the Un- 
known God, is worshipped there. Paul seemed 
presumptuous, his preaching made no impression 
on the mass of people, but he has all history since 



304 A WINTER JAUNT IN HISTORIC LANDS. 

to vindicate him. The speech delivered on that 
knoll was forgotten the next day by the Athenians; 
but those ruins we have just left, and the church 
spires down yonder in the city, tell whether it is 
still forgotten. 

There is really nothing to describe about Mars' 
Hill. It is not so pretty as many a little hill about 
your home. Its stones are not impressive, its 
seamed sides are not poetic. Common things can- 
not be made uncommon by phrases. Simply as 
a geographical study, Mars' Hill yields no profit. 
But seen historically Mars' Hill is a mountain. It 
speaks for the God no longer Unknown, but loved 
and followed by millions. 



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